Maharashtra govt to form Aurangabad Metropolitan Region Development Authority

In a bid to boost overall development in Marathwada region, the Maharashtra government has decided to form Aurangabad Metropolitan Region Development Authority (AMRDA) on the lines of the ones in Mumbai and Pune. The two such bodies functional in the state are Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) and Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA).

Aurangabad is the most important city of the Marathwada region and is also the state’s tourism capital.

“Metro cities in Maharashtra like Mumbai and Pune have metropolitan region development authorities, we will plan a similar authority for Aurangabad,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Thursday coinciding with Marathwada Liberation Day.

Aurangabad houses the divisional headquarters of Marathwada that comprises eight districts of Aurangabad, Beed, Hingoli, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Parbhani and Osmanabad.

The region borders neighbouring Karnataka and Telangana states and lies to the west of Vidarbha and east of Khandesh.

Over the last couple of decades, the Marathwada region has been facing cyclical drought and scarcity-like conditions, leading to water scarcity and agrarian distress.

India’s first planned industrial smart city, the Aurangabad Industrial City (AURIC), is being implemented as a Greenfield project spread across 10,000 acres.

The AURIC is very near to the Aurangabad International Airport and is 40 km away from the dry port and container terminal in Jalna, that is connected to the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Nhava Sheva in Raigad district.

“The AMRDA will give a major boost and a seamless development scheme could be planned with a larger vision,” officials said.

It needs to be mentioned that the international and domestic tourists inflow is very high in the Aurangabad district as it house two UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Ajanta and Ellora, Grishneshwar temple – which is a jyotirlinga, Bibi ka Maqbara, Daulatabad Fort, Jama Masjid, Aurangabad Caves, Salim Ali Lake.

The Aurangabad district’s total area is 10,100 sq km out of which 141.1 sq km is urban area and 99,587 sq km is rural area.

Many firms and companies in the sectors of automotive and auto components, pharmaceuticals and breweries, consumer durables, plastic processing, aluminium processing, agriculture and biotech have their manufacturing bases in Aurangabad.