Ghaziabad development authority goes into ‘cost cutting’ mode

he officials said the reason behind the exercise is low receipts and heavy expenditure incurred on account of major projects such as the elevated road, metro project and housing construction.

The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) is adopting cost-cutting measures in order to improve its working. The officials said the cost-cutting measures have become essential on account of the low revenue collected and because the authority has made major investments on big projects.

The officials have resorted to cost-cutting under various heads to bring down operational costs. (Sakib Ali /HT Photo)

The move comes after the first phase of the ongoing UP assembly election got over on Saturday.

“We are trying to cut down unnecessary expenditure such as those incurred on daily refreshment, decoration, etc. The use of extra papers has also been stopped. The operational expenses comes to around ₹6 crore to ₹7 crore per month and these include salaries, maintenance, electricity charges, among others,” said TR Yadav, financial controller, GDA.

The officials said the reason behind the exercise is low receipts and heavy expenditure incurred on account of major projects such as the elevated road, metro project and housing construction.

“There are around 500-600 flats which are yet to be sold. There is nearly ₹250 crore to ₹300 crore pending in the master plan and an equal amount in plot section. Nearly ₹500 crore to ₹600 crore is pending in terms of payments as well. So we are trying to cut down on expenditure,” Yadav said.

GDA vice-chairman Vijay Kumar Yadav could not be reached for comment. However, the other officials denied any such ‘cost cutting’ measures and said they are just trying to improve upon the authority’s working.

“The authority is not an organisation that lacks funds. We are just trying to save on expenses and improve upon our working. We are trying to find defaulters. For instance, when we found unclean toilets, we tell our staff to fine the company to which the maintenance work is outsourced. This is not cost cutting, but an effort to improve the system,” said Ravindra Godbole, secretary, GDA.

However, sources also attribute the development to a recent election rally in Ghaziabad in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the state government for denying the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) an audit of GDA.

The CAG audit of GDA has been a bone of contention between the state and Central government. For the past year, the Centre and the UP governor have written to the state government to conduct a CAG audit of GDA, but the state is yet to agree to it.