Greater Noida authority gets dedicated municipal wing

GREATER NOIDA: The Greater Noida authority, in its 116th board meeting Friday, approved a proposal that seeks to create a dedicated municipal wing to look after the maintenance of civic amenities in the urban area. The authority also approved 10 other proposals related to different departments.

“The dedicated municipal wing will address civic issues in a better manner. The wing will have one dedicated official along with the requisite staff to look after civic facilities. After approving the proposal in our board meeting, we will send the same for approval to the UP government before implementing it,” Narendra Bhooshan, chief executive officer, Greater Noida authority, said.

As of now, regular engineers and staff members look after the development projects and take care of municipal work as well.

But residents have often complained of poor response to their civic issues. But after creation of a separate municipal wing, the teams to take care of development projects such as laying of drains and sewage, construction of new roads, parks and other infrastructure amenities will be different. The team of engineers, which will address civic complaints such as sewer blocks, broken road and sanitation issues, will also be different, said officials.

The authority also discussed a proposal of increasing the land allotment rate. However, after deliberations, the board didn’t hike the land allotment rates as members voted down the proposal that sought to hike the land allotment rates in different categories, including residential, commercial and group housing.

“We did not approve the hike in land allotment rates in view of the slowdown in the real estate market,” a board member, requesting anonymity, said.

The other proposals approved are: allowing defaulter builders to reschedule their defaulted amount; serving consumers online; allowing mutation in freehold plots; developing four new industrial sectors on 1,500 acres; and bringing in a scheme of petrol pump plots, among others.

The authority has decided to buy 1,500 acres via direct purchase from farmers, who are willing to sell their land for industrial projects and other schemes. After buying this land the authority will allot the land for setting up industries in Greater Noida’s new sectors, officials said.