News: GMDA seeks to extend coverage-09-03-2021
The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) is planning to extend its coverage to the entirety of the Gurugram district and also increase the metropolitan area in the district, officials familiar with the development said on Tuesday
A proposal has been initiated to extend the jurisdictional boundaries of GMDA as well as extend the Gurugram Metropolitan Area (GMA) to help with connectivity and management issues. The authority has issued a public notice seeking suggestions, comments and objections.
The public notice, issued last week, states, “…acting upon the suggestions of MLA Sohna and other members as well as the directions of the Hon’ble Chairman, GMDA, given in 6th authority meeting of GMDA held on 16.03.2020, the proposal of extending the boundaries of GMA to coincide with the territory of district Gurugram, was examined by GMDA.”
Bhuvnesh Kumar, chief town planner of urban planning division, GMDA, who was part of the committee and worked on developing the new map said that the decision has been taken following public requests.
“We are planning to take the whole of Gurugram district under the jurisdiction of the GMDA as it will bring uniformity and ease connectivity issues. At present, we have to coordinate with different authorities for development work outside the Gurugram Metropolitan Area, but with the extension, working for regional connectivity will become easier,” said Kumar.
The notice further mentions that after the sixth authority meeting, a committee headed by the chief executive officer of GMDA was also formed to discuss the feasibility of extension of the limits of the Gurugram Metropolitan Area. The committee met on February 11 this year, “…wherein it was decided to initiate the process of public consultation on this issue, so that compiled report may be put in the next GMDA meeting.”
The current Gurugram Metropolitan Area boundary covers 675 square kilometres, which will be increased to 1,258 sq km, with the proposed addition of 583 sq km.
At present, the GMDA has jurisdiction over the Gurugram-Manesar urban complex, Sarbasipur, Jaduala, Jhanjrola, the complete area under the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram, Farrukhnagar and parts of Sohna tehsil, Farukhnagar tehsil, Manesar tehsil, and Gurugram tehsil.
The extended boundary will include all areas under the municipal corporations and councils of Gurugram (208 sq km), Manesar (124 sq km), Farrukhnagar (22 sq km), Pataudi (30 sq km) and Sohna (11 sq km), but officials said that work on different projects will be done in collaboration.
The authority has uploaded a proposed map of the extended limits of the Gurugram Metropolitan Area on its website, on which citizens can submit their responses till April 2.
Kumar said that if the Gurugram Metropolitan Area is extended, then the approval process for different projects will also reduce. “For both inter-district and intra-district connectivity, the extension of the area will be helpful as there will be lesser authorities concerned and projects can be taken up faster,” added Kumar.
Member of legislative assembly Sohna, Sanjay Singh, could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.
Sudhir Rajpal, chief executive officer of GMDA said, “If the boundary of GMDA is extended, it will include all the municipal corporations, but all agencies will be working independently. For projects that overlap, work will be done in collaboration.”
However, he said that the specifics of managing different functions is yet to be finalised. Also, he said that there are no plans to set up new offices for covering an extended area and work will be managed by existing personnel.
