Ghaziabad: The board of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) on Tuesday cleared several proposals, including the development of an industrial township and multi-modal logistic park at Modinagar, and also decided that the land procurement for the authority’s Harnandipuram Township will now done by way of land acquisition.
The proposal for the industrial township-cum-multi-modal logistic park, proposed over an area of about 251 hectares at Modinagar, was cleared, said GDA officials.
“We intend to develop this as a world-class project, and a consultant will soon be hired for the purpose. The work initiation is likely to start in six months. Further, we also have the availability of government at our disposal. To avail the rest of the required land, the board proposed three options, and we may utilise any of these. Although it was proposed in two phases before the board, we may go for the complete project as we have better financial conditions,” said GDA vice chairperson Atul Vats.
The proposal stated that the land required for the project can be procured on the basis of mutual consent with landholders, or through land acquisition, or through development agreement by negotiation after publication of advertisement.
As far as the land availability is concerned, the proposal said that about 61.84 hectares are available in the form of government land, while the rest of about 189.24 hectares will be procured from private landowners.
Officials said that the proposed township site is in the vicinity of the Delhi-Meerut Road, the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, and also near to Namo Bharat’s Meerut (south) station, besides being close to the railways’ Mohiddinpur railway station.
Meanwhile, the authority also cleared a proposal that the land for GDA’s ambitious 521-hectare Harnandipuram Township will now be procured by way of land acquisition.
The township is proposed near the Delhi-Meerut Road, and proposed to come up on land belonging to eight villages.
Officials said that they initially went for direct purchase of land from farmers under phase 1, but the authority could procure only about 20-25 hectares in three months.
“Due to the slow pace of land procurement, the board gave a nod that the land for phase 1 (five villages) and phase 2 (three villages), combined, will be taken up by way of the land acquisition process,” said GDA’s media coordinator Rudresh Shukla.
Officials estimate that the authority would require about 470 hectares by way of acquisition.
According to official estimates, the different processes under the land acquisition are likely to be completed within a year.
To be sure, the different processes include issue of notification, public hearing, determination of compensation, announcement of award, and process of acquisition, rehabilitation, and resettlement, among others.
“If the GDA has decided to go in for land acquisition, we would urge the authority to provide good rates based on market rates and not on the basis of circle rates, as these rates are very low in all eight villages. Further, the rate offered to farmers should be uniform. Otherwise, we may move court and may also go in for agitations,” said Daksh Nagar, a resident of Raghunathpur village.
The eight villages whose land is to be procured for the township include Mathurapur, Shamsher, Champat Nagar, Bhaneda Khurd, Nagla Firoz Mohanpur, Bhovapur, Shahpur Nij Morta, and Morta.