E-Paper
Nine years on, GMADA to resume 12 acres allotted to Centre in Mohali’s Sector 81
Was allotted to the Centre in 2011 for setting up a national centre for animation, which was later shifted to Mumbai
Nine years after allotting 12 acres in Sector 81 to the Union ministry of information and broadcasting for setting up the National Centre of Excellence for Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comics, which was later shifted to Goregaon in Mumbai, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has now decided to resume the land.
GMADA had apparently forgotten about the allotment of this prime land in Mohali, and it came to light in a recent review meeting, chaired by Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari.
“The land will be resumed soon and we will be developing an Electronic and Film City there. More employment opportunities will be created with this new project,” said Tewari.
Tewari said he has already written to Union minister of information and broadcasting Prakash Javadekar to vacate the land besides writing to Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh to resume the land for setting up a film city.
“We are in the process of resuming the land, and hopefully it will be done soon,” said a senior GMADA officer, who did not wish to be named.
‘WILL ATTRACT CORPORATE HOUSES’
It was in 2011 that GMADA allotted the land to the Centre during the United Progressive Alliance rule, when Congress leader Ambika Soni was heading the ministry, but later Manish Tewari took over the charge. The proposed centre was shifted to Goregaon in Mumbai in 2017 under the present Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime, but the land still remained with the ministry.
Tewari said Mohali city, which is “very strategically situated in close proximity to an international airport and has been meticulously planned, is rapidly developing into the next big IT hub”.
“In order to attract attention of leading corporate houses, another feather should be added in the cap of the city by developing an Electronic and Film City, on the pattern of Taiwan,” he said.
Mohali’s Sector 81 is known as Knowledge City. At present, six reputed institutions are based there, including the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Nano Science and Technology Institution, Indian School of Business, Bio Technology Park, National Agri Food Bio Tech Institute and Bio Processing Unit.
