Ghaziabad: More objections invited after errors in draft Master Plan 2031
The draft Master Plan 2031 is in for further delay as the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has invited public objections on 65 “drafting errors” that have crept in the draft plan.
Officials said a state level ‘Shaskiya Samiti’ (administrative committee) pointed out the issue and directed for correction.
The draft Master Plan 2031 is awaiting a final nod from the Uttar Pradesh government before its implementation, replacing the existing 2021 plan prepared in 2004-05. The new draft plan for 2031 is an integrated Master Plan for Ghaziabad city, Loni, and Modinagar/Muradnagar.
A master plan is a broad layout of a city, clearly laying out different areas according to land uses, such as for residential, commercial and industrial purposes, among others.
“There are some drafting errors in the draft, and GDA has invited public objections for this,” said GDA vice chairperson Atul Vats.
In the current Master Plan 2021, the GDA jurisdiction area has about 15,554 hectares of land for development. Under the draft Master Plan 2031, the authority has proposed 60,282.12 hectares as its development area.
“The drafting errors crept in when the draft plan generated in a software was superimposed over the GIS (Geographic Information Systems)-based images. It led to certain errors. So, on directions of the state-level committee, the authority has invited public objections. Once these objections are disposed of, the draft plan will be sent for final approval,” said the authority’s media coordinator Rudresh Shukla.
In 2023, the GDA invited public objections against the draft plan 2031. Then, 73 objections were received and disposed of.
Later, in October 2023, the GDA invited yet another set of public objections for non-conforming zones in Ghaziabad city and Loni, while the GDA board also asked officials to invite objections for declaring the Duhai Depot as a station under the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project.
“The process for preparing Master Plan 2031 started in 2018-19, and it is still in process in 2025 while the 2021 is still in prevalence. The delay shows that there have been issues in the process since beginning. Before 2031, the agencies will again start planning for the next plan. So, effectively, the 2031 plan will be in prevalence for only six years,” said Himanshu Mittal, former councillor from Kavi Nagar.
The GDA board, on September 6, 2024, gave final approval to the final draft of the GIS-based draft Master Plan – 2031 for Ghaziabad, Modinagar/Muradnagar and Loni.
