Ghaziabad development body to consider freezing of circle rates at board meet

GHAZIABAD: Freezing of circle rates in some areas to woo buyers for government plots are among the 10 key proposals on the agenda of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) board meeting slated for Thursday in Meerut. New compounding policy is another key proposal likely to be taken up by the board, officials said.

According to officials, there are some 658 plots worth Rs 1,600 crore in some GDA-controlled areas and freezing of circle rates means that the price of the land will remain stable, which would help attract buyers.

“In GDA-administered areas like Madhuban Bapudham, Koyal Enclave, Swarnjyantipuram, Govindpuram and Inderprastha, the sector rates of the development authority are not compatible with the circle rates fixed by the district administration. So, we want freezing of the circle rates in these areas till 31 March 2021,” said a GDA official.

The GDA has, however, decided not to freeze sector rates in Indirapuram, Kaushambi and Vaishali. “The sector rates in these areas are less than the circle rates fixed by the district administration. The board could even hike the sector rates in these areas, when it meets on Thursday,” said the official.

GDA officials said, the new compounding scheme unveiled by the state government in June, under which developers get some relaxation to regularise extra construction, is also on the agenda of the board meeting. Under the new scheme, rates for residential, commercial and institutional categories of land have been slashed by 50% of the existing circle rate.

“At a time when people are facing hardships due to the Covid pandemic, the new compounding scheme will serve twin purposes — it will save the effort of the development authority in carrying out demolition drives, thus giving relief to residents and developers, while enabling more and more people to come forward to get extra construction regularised at a cost, thereby giving GDA the opportunity to raise revenue,” said the official. Other proposals on the agenda are change of land use of 8,000 sq m in Kaushambi, earmarked for a cyber hub.