GHAZIABAD: In the works since 2016, Indirapuram‘s handover from Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) to the corporation may not be far away now.
The GDA board, which met in Meerut under divisional commissioner Selva Kumari J on Friday, reached a consensus over cost estimates for the handover process — drawn up following a joint survey of civic amenities by the corporation and GDA in June — with the GMC.
The GDA will pay Rs 185 crore to the corporation, of which Rs 50 crore will be used to repair and revamp the 80km road infrastructure, Rs 25 crore on sewage management and Rs 20 crore on water infrastructure, municipal commissioner Vikramaditya Singh Malik said.
Another Rs 15 crore will be set aside for solid waste management, Rs 13.7 crore for installation and repair of streetlights and Rs 11 crore for maintenance of parks and green belt.
Within the next six months, GDA will also hand over two land parcels to the GCM — a 4,000 sqm plot for setting up a waste transfer station and another 4,500 sqm plot for a material recovery centre.
Malik said the development authority will stagger the payment over the next 10 months. About Rs 70 crore will be transferred to the corporation upfront — it will also mark the initiation of the handover process. The second instalment of Rs 40 crore will be transferred by Dec 31, and a similar amount on March 1, 2025.
The remaining Rs 35 crore will be transferred by July next year.
GDA secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh told TOI that after its board meeting in Aug, the divisional commissioner directed the Authority’s vice chairperson and the commissioner to hold talks and formalise the handover of Indirapuram within two weeks.
“Following a series of meetings, GDA has agreed to pay GMC a total of Rs 185 crore to complete the pending infrastructure work for the handover process to start,” Singh said.
The deadlock over the handover of the township, spread across 1,222 acres, has dragged on since 2016 over a lack of consensus as to how much money GDA will pay GMC. The civic body earlier demanded Rs 365 crore, insisting there was much work related to repairing roads, sewers and streetlights pending in the township. It wanted the GDA to either complete the work or give the corporation the funds to do so.
GDA argued that GMC already collects house tax and has no claim over funds. As per rule, GMC releases development funds of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore for each ward. Since Indirapuram’s handover was stalled, the GMC did not release the development funds for the seven wards — originally part of the Makanpur ward, Indirapuram was divided into seven wards after 2016 delimitation process —for the past eight years.
In Dec last year, CM Yogi Adityanath set a Feb 2024 deadline for the resolution of the issue. However, with the model code coming into effect in March for the general elections, there was little progress over the next few months.
“We were fighting for the handover of the township for many years. Finally, justice has been served to the 4.62 lakh residents here. The township will see all-round development under civic body,” councillor Sanjay Singh from ward number 100 in Indirapuram said.
