The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) is targeting the launch phase 1 of its ambitious Harnandipuram housing scheme within the next five months once the initial 100-120 hectares of land are procured from farmers, officials said on Wednesday.
“We expect that in the next four to five months, we will be able to get 100-120 hectares of land,” said Nand Kishor Kalal, the authority’s vice-chairperson told HT.
“Further, we are also initiating a topographical survey of the entire proposed area of the scheme with the help of drones and satellite imagery. The formalities required by the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) will also be completed in the coming months,” he added.
GDA proposed the scheme last year over 521-hectares of land from eight villages— Mathurapur, Shamsher, Champat Nagar, Bhaneda Khurd, Nagla Firoz Mohanpur, Bhovapur, Shahpur Nij Morta, and Morta.
So far, according to GDA officials, farmers holding about 85 hectares of land have given consent, and registries of about 35 hectares have been completed to date on direct purchase mode. GDA had initiated the process to procure land on the direct purchase method in February.
Officials said that the GDA is offering four times the circle rate prevailing in villages, and the rates were decided and fixed in March by a committee of GDA and district administration officials.
Currently, the GDA, they added, is focusing on talks with farmers in the three villages of Mathurapur, Shamsher, and Nagla Firoz Mohanpur to get land as quickly as possible.
However, the farmers continue to allege that GDA had roadblocked the hike of circle rates in their villages, adding that the current circle rate should be hiked before they can offer their land.
“The circle rate of land in our villages is very low, and farmers are against selling their land for the proposed housing scheme,” Dkash Nagar, secretary of Harnandipuram Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, told HT.
“It is our demand that the circle rate should be hiked and land purchases should be at uniform rates. Earlier in August, GDA sent a letter to the stamps and registration department and asked them not to hike the rate of agricultural land in our villages. Initially, GDA was focusing on all eight villages, and then they came down to focus on five villages and now three. It shows that they are not getting the land easily for Harnandipuram due to inherent issues raised by farmers,” Nagar added.
On September 23, HT had reported that farmers are particularly aggrieved because, while residential land rates in these villages have been revised upward, agricultural rates—relevant to the land the GDA aims to acquire—remain static.
Reacting to these allegations, Kalal said, “Our focus is on three villages at present in order to procure about 100-120 hectares of land for the launch of phase 1. It is so as we wish to keep the balance of available funds and expenditure required in the purchase of land. Our teams are in regular touch with farmers and also trying to address their concerns.”