GDA approves 251-hectare industrial township in Modinagar, land acquisition for Harnandipuram

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The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) on Tuesday approved several key proposals, including the development of an industrial township along with a multi-modal logistics park at Modinagar, and a change in the way land will be acquired for the Harnandipuram Township project.

According to the officials, the industrial township and logistics park will come up on around 251 hectares of land in Modinagar. The GDA board has cleared the plan and said that a consultant will soon be hired to prepare a detailed layout for the project. The authority expects that work on the ground may begin within the next six months.

“We intend to develop this as a world-class project, and a consultant will soon be hired for the purpose. Further, we also have the availability of government at our disposal. To avail the rest of the required land, the board proposed three options, and we may utilise any of these. Although it was proposed in two phases before the board, we may go for the complete project as we have better financial conditions,” Hindustan Times quoted GDA vice chairperson Atul Vats as saying.

The three options include: land can be bought directly from landowners through mutual consent, acquired formally under the land acquisition law, or obtained through a development agreement after negotiations.

Out of the total land required, officials confirmed that 61.84 hectares are already available as government land. The remaining 189.24 hectares will be sourced from private owners. The location of the proposed township is considered strategic, as it is close to major transport links like the Delhi-Meerut Road, the Delhi-Meerut Expressway, the Namo Bharat’s Meerut (South) station, and the Mohiddinpur railway station.

In the same meeting, the GDA also took an important decision regarding the Harnandipuram Township, which is proposed to be developed over 521 hectares near the Delhi-Meerut Road. Initially, the authority had tried to directly purchase land from farmers, but in the first three months, it could manage to acquire only about 20–25 hectares. Due to this slow progress, the board has now decided that the land for both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the project will be obtained through the formal process of land acquisition.

“Due to the slow pace of land procurement, the board gave a nod that the land for phase 1 (five villages) and phase 2 (three villages), combined, will be taken up by way of the land acquisition process,” said GDA’s media coordinator Rudresh Shukla.

The acquisition process involves several stages, including issuing notifications, holding public hearings, deciding compensation, announcing awards, and carrying out resettlement and rehabilitation. Officials believe that all these processes may take up to a year to complete.

However, residents from the affected villages have demanded that compensation should be fixed on the basis of current market rates and not on outdated circle rates, which are much lower. They also want a uniform rate to be applied for all farmers, warning that otherwise they may approach the courts or even launch protests.

The Harnandipuram Township is expected to come up on land belonging to eight villages, Mathurapur, Shamsher, Champat Nagar, Bhaneda Khurd, Nagla Firoz Mohanpur, Bhovapur, Shahpur Nij Morta, and Morta. If completed as planned, the township will be one of the largest residential projects of the GDA in the region.