Security chinks in PUDA website: GMADA defers auction of 49 sites

Following NIC’s report, on October 25, Punjab chief secretary Anurag Verma had shot off a strongly worded letter to the officers of the state housing and urban department, and directed them to take corrective measures

With the National Informatics Centre (NIC) flagging security concerns with regard to the official website of the Punjab Urban planning and Development Authority (PUDA), the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has postponed its auction of 49 properties that began through the website on October 15 and was to end on October 30.

The National Informatics Centre had recently highlighted that while security audits of government websites are to be carried out every year, PUDA’s website, which hosts e-auctions of properties worth crores, had not had one since 2017. (HT Photo)

Following NIC’s report, on October 25, Punjab chief secretary Anurag Verma had shot off a strongly worded letter to the officers of the state housing and urban department, and directed them to take corrective measures.

The NIC report had highlighted that while security audits of government websites are to be carried out every year, PUDA’s website, which hosts e-auctions of properties worth crores, had not had one since 2017.

Following this, the chief secretary-cum-administrative secretary, housing and urban development, Punjab, had stated that it shall be the personal responsibility of the officers concerned to ensure that all e-auctions of GMADA and other housing and urban development authorities are conducted only on a platform/system certified to be fully secure by NIC as well as the department of governance reforms.

The e-auction featured 49 properties, including group housing, schools and commercial sites, besides SCOs/SCFs and booths, located in different sectors of Mohali.

In the last auction held in March, the first since January 2022, GMADA had earned a record ₹1,935.8 crore from the sale of 47 properties, including six group housing sites located in different parts of Mohali.

Apart from those of GMADA, the PUDA website “https://www.puda.gov.in/” also hosts the e-auctions of the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA), the Patiala Development Authority (PDA), the Jalandhar Development Authority (JDA) and the Amritsar Development Authority (ADA).