New Delhi, November 22: The two Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli, located barely 35-km apart, will be merged into a single entity. Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Arjun Meghwal, announced on Friday that a legislation would be tabled in the Parliament next week to merge the two regions into a single UT. Daman & Diu BJP Chief Gopal Tandel Caught in Honey Trap, Offers to Quit After Sex Video Leaked Online.

The Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill 2019 is listed as part o the business activity in the House for next week, the Minister said. The two UTs are located on the western coast of India, between the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

According to officials, the merger if necessitated for administrative and governance efficiency. It will also eliminate the menace of duplication of work, which arises as both the UTs are located in close proximity.

As of now, the UTs of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu have their separate secretariats. The two UTs also prepared and released their separate annual Budgets. After the merger, however, only a single Budget document would be prepared and a sole secretariat would function from Diu, officials said.

The move comes days after the Centre, in an unprecedented decision on August 5, decided to revoke the special status granted to Jammu & Kashmir and bifurcate the frontier state into two union territories - J&K and Ladakh.

On August 5, the central government had announced the abrogation of the special status given to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and its bifurcation into two UTs.

The country currently has nine UTs after the creation of the UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. However, with the merger of Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the number of UTs will come down to eight.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2019 09:24 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).