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Developers ask GMDA to look into issue of redundant revenue roads, authority agrees
Gurugram: The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has agreed to look into the issue of redundant revenue roads owned by village panchayats that fall
Gurugram: The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) has agreed to look into the issue of redundant revenue roads owned by village panchayats that fall in the licensed projects of private developers and are not being presently used by the villagers.
The matter was raised in a meeting held on Friday between developers and senior authority officials, in which the realtors said that redundant revenue roads within their projects had become a nuisance as there was no clear policy on outright purchase or exchange of land.
Rohit Sharma, director, DLF Estate, said that several revenue roads across the city had come under residential projects and these roads were not being used by villagers and had become redundant. “Such land can neither be used nor bought by the developers, and this has led to problems. There is need to find a way of either ensuring the sale of this land or exchange should be facilitated,” he said.
Another builder said that due to the presence of revenue roads, some of the developers had been forced to divide their projects as these roads ran right through the projects. In some cases, they said the panchayats, who owned the land, had blocked access by digging the road and they demanded exorbitant rent or price in lieu of the land.
As per the GMDA officials, the issue of revenue roads was indeed a problem, as a policy to subsume these revenue roads (rastas) had not even worked in jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation Gurugram. “The urban local bodies department had introduced a mechanism whereby the municipal corporations could exchange land marked as revenue roads lying with private developers in lieu of equal land of equal value. However, this proposal could not materialise as the proposals were either not accepted by elected councillors or it was difficult to find land of matching value or for other reasons,” said Jitender Mittal, chief engineer, GMDA.
The developers as such have asked the authority to find a way forward by making it possible to purchase the revenue road land at prescribed rates as this could resolve the problems.
After hearing the matter, VS Kundu, chief executive officer, GMDA, said that the authority will take up this matter with government agencies concerned to find out a solution. “We can certainly work out a viable solution for either purchase or exchange of land,” he said.
