The long-pending process of Indirapuram’s handover to Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam (GNN) has finally started. Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) vice chairperson Kanchan Verma today set up a six-member joint committee to expedite the handover process.
The committee comprises three members each from GDA and GNN. Chief engineer VN Singh, officer on special duty VK Singh and executive engineer Manvendra Singh will represent GDA, while additional commissioner Pramod Kumar Singh, chief engineer Moinuddin and general manager of waterworks department will represent GNN on the panel.
Pramod Kumar Singh said that earlier this month GDA had written a letter to the municipal commissioner regarding the handover, after which chief engineer and GM waterworks were asked to look into the matter. He added that the committee would do a joint inspection of Indirapuram November onwards.
The process of handover has been pending for more than six years now. Speaking to City Spidey, VN Singh said that the GNN had been reluctant to take the handover citing faults in infrastructure as the major reason.
He further said that GDA had proposed GNN to take over Indirapuram just like they had done for Vaishali in 2014. “We had even asked them to do a joint inspection to find faults. We were even ready to allocate funds to GNN as we had done for Vaishali,” he said.
During the handover of Vaishali, which happened in 2014, the GDA had paid Rs 390 lakhs to Nigam to complete pending works of parks, street lights, etc.
Meanwhile, Alok Kumar, president of Federation of Apartments Owners Association (FedAOA), Ghaziabad, wasn’t very happy with the idea of handover. “GDA should first complete all pending work and then think about the handover," Kumar said
"The sewage system, water system, treatment plants, roads and many other basic infrastructures are incompetent to satiate the needs of the population living in the area," Kumar added.
Kumar added that Indirapuram was a low-density area way back in early 90s when the GDA had started planning it. “Since then, there has been an exponential surge in the population, which the current infrastructure is unable to support. GDA should at least augment these services as per the demand and then move for a handover.”
Last month, the GDA had hired a private consultancy firm to prepare a detail project report (DPR) for augmentation of sewage, drainage and water network in Indirapuram.
GDA's executive engineer Manvendra Singh said that the DPR is expected to arrive by December and work will start soon afterwards.
