Running behind schedule, 4-month deadline set for Gangajal project

NOIDA: The industrial development commissioner, Manoj Singh, set a four-month deadline for officials of the Greater Noida Authority and a government construction corporation for completing the Ganga water project.
Singh inspected the Ganga water treatment plants at Jaitpur and in Omicron 1 and tested the quality of water by filling a bottle from the tank.
The 85 cusec Gangajal project in Greater Noida was inaugurated on November 1 last year. The Rajkiya Nirman Nigam is implementing the project, which is expected to cost over Rs 800 crore.
Already running behind schedule, technical snags and problems with the pipeline have pushed the project back further. But officials hope that households in Siddharth Vihar and Noida will get Ganga water in June.
Apart from inspecting the water treatment plants, Singh also held a meeting with real estate developers and financial agencies, including banks, to understand problems between the two parties.
The stakeholders raised concerns over the grievances of homebuyers and the challenges faced by developers in completing projects.
"The government needs to take urgent action to address these issues. The commissioner listened to our grievances and assured us of a solution soon," said a senior official of a bank who attended the meeting, lasting two hours and a half.
According to an estimate, various developers owe around Rs 40,000 crore to the authorities.
"The government is committed to resolving the grievances of homebuyers. Issues related to builders and buyers have been pending for long. The meeting was intended at hearing out the stakeholders and finding an amicable solution," Singh said.
Banks that attended the meet claimed that the delay by authorities to grant permission to various projects had caused many of them to become unviable.
Members of the CREDAI, a group representing realtors, also participated in the meeting and called for an interest rate waiver.