Board approves plan to expand GDA jurisdiction; okays budget for FY 25-26
The expansion is estimated to include about 21,000 hectares of additional area into the GDA jurisdiction area
Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad development authority (GDA) in its board meeting held on Tuesday cleared a proposal to include land belonging to 61 villages alongside the Delhi Meerut Expressway (DME), the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE), which will lead to a major expansion in the area.
The GDA officials said the expansion is estimated to include about 21,000 hectares of additional area into the GDA jurisdiction area. They said that they had also put forward a proposal for inclusion of another 16 villages from Hapur-Pilkhuwa development authority (HPDA). But the board decided to set up a committee to discuss the proposal further. It will be taken up in the next meeting.
“The board cleared the proposal to include 61 villages in the GDA jurisdiction area. This will lead to expansion in the GDA jurisdiction area. The 61 villages at present are not included in the draft Master Plan 2031 since there is no notification issued. Now, the activities here will be managed by GDA. Presently, the map layouts are cleared by the Zila Panchayat, and they do not have much expertise in town planning etc.,” said GDA vice chairperson Atul Vats.
In the current Master Plan 2021, the GDA jurisdiction area has about 15,554 hectares of land for development. Under the draft Master Plan 2031, set to take over the 2021 plan, the authority has proposed 60,282.12 hectares as its development area.
The authority officials said 29 of the 61 villages are near to the EPE and 32 near to the DME.
Officials said that the areas along proposed villages are witnessing major infrastructure development activities like the DME, EPE, regional rapid transit system, and the proposed orbital rail project.
“In such a case, the unplanned growth in these areas will hinder prospects of expansion in the future. So, these areas need to be controlled for planned development, as well as enforcement activities against illegal development. The villages proposed in the proposal will also see planned development,” Vats added.
“The GDA jurisdiction area is managed by eight zones. Once the integrated draft Master Plan 2031 gets final approval, the GDA will carry out activities in 15 zones,” said an official.
The board also cleared the revised budget for FY 2024-25 and also for FY 2025-26. GDA officials said that they cleared a proposal for revised expenditure of ₹915.75 crore while the proposed expenditure for FY 2025-26 is projected at ₹2,132.23 crores.
Against the expenditure, the GDA has also projected an income of ₹2,623.42 crore for FY 2025-26.
“The budget proposal was cleared by the board. We plan to spend about ₹1,200 crore for procuring land. We have also planned to sell our unsold inventory to raise incoming revenue. We also plan to spend on zonal plans and on infrastructure facilities,” GDA vice-chairperson added.
