GDA board clears proposal for 541 hectare residential township near Delhi-Meerut Road
The GDA board, headed by divisional commissioner (Meerut), on Monday approved the proposal and the state government will share 50% of the project cost
The board of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) on Monday cleared a proposal for developing a new residential township on 541 hectares near the Delhi Meerut Road at an estimated cost of about ₹3,000 crore.
The GDA board, which is headed by divisional commissioner (Meerut), on Monday approved the proposal and officials aware of the development said the state government will share 50% of the project cost.
GDA officials said they initially proposed to name the new township as “Harnadnipuram”, after river Hindon near which the project is located. Officials said, locally, Hindon is known as Harnandi.
Authority’s vice-chairperson Atul Vats said the land from eight villages will be procured from farmers for the development of the proposed township.
These eight villages are Mathurapur, Nagla Firoz Mohanpur, Shamsher, Champat Nagar, Bhneda Khurd, Shahpur Morta, Morta and Bhovapur, he said.
“The board has asked us to conduct physical inspections at the proposed site. We intend to purchase land directly from farmers as that would be the fastest method to procure land at a mutually agreeable price. The other options to get land are through land acquisition and also through land pooling, which are more time consuming processes. The new township is proposed to provide 5,000 housing units,” Vats said.
GDA officials said the new township will also curb development of illegal and unauthorised colonies and people nowadays do not hesitate to travel 30-40km from their homes to their offices, provided they have proper road, urban mass transport and other forms of connectivity available to them.
“The location of the new township is about three kilometers inside from the Delhi Meerut Road and it is proposed at rear of Raj Nagar Extension. The proposed site is approachable via the Hindon elevated road, Northern Peripheral Expressway, Raj Nagar Extension Ring Road and also from the Duhai station of the RRTS network. Apart from housing and commercial activities, we intend to develop medicity, a health-care hub, and also an IT hub,” said Rakesh Kumar Singh, secretary, GDA.
Officials said the new township will be near the Duhai interchange of the Eastern Peripheral Expressway and the nearest Metro station would be river Hindon station.
They said that the GDA last launched a mega housing scheme in 2004, the Madhuban Bapudham, and since then, no major township was built to keep pace with the growing demand for housing.
Officials said the GDA board also cleared a proposal to sell its 30,359 square metres of land, meant for group housing in Indirapuram, as individual residential and commercial plots after the land remained unsold in 26 auctions owing to its proximity to a cremation ground.
The authority will now carve out 116 residential plots and four commercial plots from the land.
GDA officials said the board also approved the decision for freezing the sector rates of its properties as 1,742 different properties floated by the GDA are lying unsold since the past several years. They added that these properties will be offered on a “first-come, first served” basis.
The sector rates are rates at which the GDA sells it properties to the first time allottee. The subsequent sales are taken up on circle rates which are defined by the district magistrate every year.