Centre seeks views on joint Assembly for UTs of Daman, Diu and

The Centre has asked the views of the Administrator of the Union Territories of Daman, Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli over the possibility of forming a Legislative Assembly for the UTs.
"The committee (Parliamentary Standing Committee) finds merit in the popular demand for creation of an Assembly for the UTs (Diu, Daman and Dadra and Nagar Haveli) and desires that the Government of India may look into this," Deputy Secretary (Home), Government of India, Neeta Gupta has said in a letter written to the Administrator of Diu, Daman and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, B S Bhalla.
The letter has sought opinion of Administrator on the issue.

"This is very old demand. It is a policy decision which Central government will take," Bhalla told PTI here today.
Welcoming the move, Daman District Panchayat president, Ketan Patel said that the move will clear the decks to realise this long-pending demand for the joint Assembly.
"The Parliamentary Standing Committee has submitted its report recommending a joint Assembly for the UTs of Diu, Daman and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, on the line of Puducherry," Patel told media persons here.

He said that the 180th report on the administration of the Union Territories had been submitted last month.
"31 members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha had visited the UTs and recommended setting of an Assembly for Diu, Daman and Dadra and Nagar Haveli," Patel said.

He said that a movement initiated in 2005 to get an Assembly for these UTs on the Gujarat coastline will now culminate into success.
"If an Assembly will be set up here, then with the help of civic bodies, we can definitely see developments in UTs," Patel said, adding that taking into consideration the area covered by these UTs, it will be like a mini-Assembly.
He said that residents of UTs and public representatives will write letters to the Union government to press for their demand.