Ghaziabad development body identifies over 320 illegal colonies, to make list public

GHAZIABAD: The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has identified over 320 illegal colonies in the district and it plans to make the list public so that buyers exercise caution while investing in such colonies. The list will soon be uploaded on GDA’s portal.

In fact, GDA has long tried to rein in illegal colonies and a few years ago stopped the registries of such colonies. Unauthorised colonies have put an additional burden on the city’s resources and in the absence of effective mechanisms, the development authority has often failed to monitor the safety standard resulting in building collapse incidents, according to officials.

“Unauthorised al colonies in the district are bane and they are growing every year. The problem about these colonies is that due to lack of awareness, buyers invest in these properties and middlemen and land sharks have a big role to play in it,” said a GDA official. “Once these colonies come up, there is an increased pressure on us to provide civic amenities like water and electric supply.”

“So, we have decided that the 321 unauthorised colonies that have been identified in the district will be made public and we will shortly upload the list on our portal. This will prevent people from investing in such colonies,” the official added. The 321 unauthorised colonies identified in the district includes Brij Nagri, Nandini Enclave, Durga Enclave and Pandav Nagar.

GDA had earlier tried to address the problem by requesting the stamp and registry department to verify the land records and documents before executing land registries. “But that did not materialise as there is a clause in the registration manual according to which registering officers will not take into account the validity of documents brought to them before executing registries,” said the official.

The development authority had in the past written to the state government urging it to make prior NOC from the GDA mandatory but to avail. “So, registries in unauthorised colonies keep taking place,” he added.