Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu to be one Union Territory from 26th January 2020

The Home Ministry announced on Thursday, 19th December that the two union territories- Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli along the western coast of India, near Gujarat will be merged to a single union territory from 26th January 2020.
The new name of the merged union territory will be- Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu
The bill for the merger of the union territories named-Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (Merger of Union Territories) Bill, 2019 was passed by both the upper and lower house of the parliament during its just-concluded winter session of 2019. As earlier stated by the Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, G. Kishan Reddy that the merger will lead to better administration as there can be a check on various duplication works. The two union territories are separated by 35 Km were used to have different secretariats and separate budgets. The union territories had Portuguese rule during the colonial period, Dadra and Nagar Haveli became a part of Republic of India in 1961 while from 1961-87 Daman and Diu as a part of India was under the Goa union territory, later in 1987 as Goa was declared a state, Daman and Diu became a separate union territory.