Land tangles keep GMDA busy as agencies fail to coordinate

GURUGRAM: In October last year, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) found itself in a legal tussle when a company moved court against the Haryana Shahari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) for cancelling the allotment of a parking lot in Sector 29. It was found that HSVP had auctioned one of GMDA’s land parcels for the parking lot without its knowledge.
HSVP had transferred some land to GMDA earlier last year, and later allotted the same land to the company, a senior GMDA official told TOI. When it cancelled the allotment, the allottee moved court against the cancellation.
All this while, GMDA was oblivious. It did, however, recently ask HSVP for an explanation. “It was in the middle of this legal tussle that we found out that the land transferred to us had been allotted to someone else without our prior knowledge,” the GMDA official said.
This incident is one among many instances where GMDA, which was formed in August 2017 as the overarching agency for coordinated and planned development of the city, has found itself in a tangle due to a lack of coordination between itself and other agencies. While its formation was supposed to boost projects in Gurugram by taking decisions at the local level, GMDA itself is stuck in one issue or the other, which is likely to hinder its efficacy.
In another instance, MCG installed water ATMs across the city at several locations. Months later, however, GMDA realised that these ATMs had been installed on its land and had them removed, putting to waste all the effort and investment made by the corporation. “Since the land comes under GMDA, MCG should have taken prior permission before putting up these ATMs. We had to remove these,” another GMDA official in the know of the matter said.
Also, GMDA recently turned down MCG’s request for land for the expansion for Bandhwari waste plant as well as for the establishment of a transport park in Sector 29. Sources said MCG has already floated tenders for the transport park project and the refusal might throw up some problems for the corporation.
Similarly, GMDA and NHAI officials are having their own share of problems over the ongoing infrastructure projects in the city.
GMDA officials themselves said instead of the coordination, planning and policymaking that the authority was supposed to look into, it has engrossed itself in micro-level issues, defeating the purpose of its existence.
“We should have been involved mainly with policymaking and coordination work, whereas now we are involved in very micro-level issues such as roads and drainage repairs, which should have been left with MCG or HSVP,” asenior GMDA official said.
He added that with this adding to its work, GMDA has bitten more than it can chew. To make things worse, the authority doesn’t have adequate resources, either in terms of the manpower or funds. Consequently, two and a half years after its establishment, GMDA has very little to show for its performance.