Ghaziabad Development Authority told to get Avantika Colony work done in three months

GHAZIABAD: Taking a stern view on the Avantika colony takeover issue, divisional commissioner of Meerut, Prabhat Kumar, has written to Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) and district magistrate to prevail upon the private builder to complete the pending civil work.

The Avantika colony issue dates back to April last year when the private developer, Ansal housing and construction company, in violation of norms clandestinely handed over the colony to Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC) even without receiving the mandatory completion certificate from the GDA. The issue got highlighted when residents complained of incomplete civic work.

Elaborating on the nature of violations, councillor Rajender Tyagi said: "A colony developed by a private builder requires completion certificate from the GDA before it is finally handed over to the maintenance agency which is GMC in this case but Avantika colony was handed over to the GMC without receiving the completion certificate. This happened under the watch of the then municipal commissioner Abdul Samad who connived with the Ansal builder and facilitated the handover without the board's consent."

When the issue was raised by residents who wrote to Kumar, a committee was formed under GDA chairperson. "The committee submitted a report to divisional commissioner last month in which it was alleged that the private builder did not finish the work which included setting up of STP, roads, drainage system and yet handed it over to the GMC," said Tyagi. "As per the committee's report, work to the tune of Rs 6 crore is still pending," added Tyagi.

In the backdrop of this, Kumar has ordered GDA and GMC to get the work done by Ansal builders in three months and if they fail to do so, the onus will be on the two agencies to complete the work within the stipulated time.