CM set Feb deadline, I’puram handover to GMC may finally happen this month

Ghaziabad: The Feb deadline set by the chief minister is long over, but Indirapuram’s handover from Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) to the corporation may not be far away now. The GDA board, which met in Meerut on Monday, gave its in-principle approval to the cost estimates drawn up following a joint survey by the corporation and GDA. Divisional commissioner Selva Kumari J, who was presiding over the meeting, has asked GDA vice-chairperson Atul Vats and civic commissioner Vikramaditya Singh Malik to fix the date of transfer within two weeks.The joint survey of the township — parks, roads and other civic amenities — was conducted in June by a team of officials from both the agencies to prepare the cost estimates for the handover process. “With the joint survey done and a go-ahead from the board, the handover of the township is possible soon after the meeting of GDA and GMC chiefs later this month,” Rajesh Kumar Singh, GDA secretary, told TOI.The deadlock over the handover 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 for the handover of the township spread across 1,222 acres. It insisted there was much work related to repairing roads and sewers and streetlighting that GDA needed to complete or give the corporation the cash to do so. GDA argued that GMC already collects house tax and has no claim on funds.In Dec last year, CM Yogi Adityanath set a Feb 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.On Tuesday, Malik told TOI that a decision on the amount GDA is to disburse to GMC in lieu of pending work before the handover process is formalised has not been finalised yet. “There are areas like horticulture, parks, drains and roads where much work is left to be done,” he added.Board adopts TOD policyThe GDA board also gave its approval on Monday for defining 500 metres along the alignment of the two metro corridors — 2.1km Blue Line from Anand Vihar to Vaishali and 9.3km Red Line from Shaheed Nagar to Shaheed Sthal New Bus Adda — as transit-oriented (TOD) zones under UP Transit Oriented Development Policy, 2022. The state govt’s 2008 Building Construction and Development Bylaws, aimed to boost the hotel industry, were also adopted by the GDA board. It will halve the land required for hotels from 1,000sqm to 500sqm. The bylaws also states that a building with six rooms can now qualify as a hotel.