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Call to set up Gurgaon authority gets shriller
Hoping to replicate Noida’s fast-paced development story, the Haryana government has finally decided to look into the long-pending demand of setting up a Gurgaon Development Authority (GDA) on lines of the Noida Authority or Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
Hoping to replicate Noida’s fast-paced development story, the Haryana government has finally decided to look into the long-pending demand of setting up a Gurgaon Development Authority (GDA) on lines of the Noida Authority or Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
The umbrella agency may soon become a reality as a high-level political meeting was held with Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in New Delhi on Monday.
Gurgaon Member of Parliament (MP) Rao Inderjit Singh, Haryana Congress chief BK Hariprasad, mayor Vimal Yadav, senior deputy mayor Yashpal Batra and deputy mayor Parminder Kataria were present at the meeting.
Hooda has agreed to take into cognizance views of all members who have been pressing to set up the GDA.
“The Haryana government has to first send a proposal to the Central government, only then can a body like GDA be established,” said Singh, adding that the proposal had been delayed by the state government.
In 2009, the government had appointed a committee, headed by Palwal MLA Karan Singh Dalal, to conduct a survey and prepare a report.
Three years on, the report is yet to be submitted.
Sources claimed the meeting was called on instructions of Congress president Sonia Gandhi to diffuse the tension between the two warring Congress groups in Gurgaon and urge them to work together for development of the city.
“The GDA issue was also discussed among other matters but the meeting was called so that the dispute between the two groups, led by the Gurgaon MP and the chief minister, could be settled over a cup of tea,” said a Congress member.
“Gurgaon contributes more than 50% of the state’s total revenue. The Haryana Urban Development Authority has collected more than Rs. 7,000 crore from private developers in the form of external and internal development charges till now but a negligible percentage has been spent on Gurgaon. If the GDA comes into being, the money could be used for betterment of the city,” added Singh.
