The Haryana government is expected to promulgate an Ordinance within a fortnight to constitute the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA). The Ordinance will meet a long-pending demand of the locals for creation of an agency to expedite the development of the city.
GMDA Officer Special Duty (OSD) V. Umashankar said the matter could come up at the Cabinet meeting in the next fortnight and the Ordinance would be promulgated.
He added that it might take another month-and-a-half for other formalities to be completed after the Ordinance before the authority actually comes into existence.
Procedural delays
The government was forced to take the Ordinance route after the Bill pertaining to the GMDA couldn’t be introduced in the just-concluded Assembly session due to procedural delays.
The Bill will now be presented in the next session of the Haryana Assembly.
The demand for an authority was first mooted during Congress rule and the residents supported it saying that a single agency was needed to expedite decision-making and implementation of development plans.
Support from Ministers
Over the years, Union Minister of State for Planning Rao Inderjit Singh, who is local MP, and Haryana PWD Minister Rao Narbir Singh, who represents Badshahpur constituency in Haryana Vidhan Sabha, and other local politicians also supported the demand.
Haryana Chief Minister M. L. Khattar had announced that the process to set up the authority, then named Gurugram Development Authority, would start on November 1, 2016, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of tHaryana’s creation and completed within two months.
However, the process slowed down after some of the senior-most bureaucrats apparently told him that there was no express need for an agency. As face-saving formula, an OSD was then appointed to initiate discussions on the matter and present a Bill.
Suggestions for logo
On November 2, the draft for the authority was uploaded online for public feedback and the Bill was submitted to Haryana government on December 8 after discussions with representatives of public, industries, and other organisations. On December 21, 2016, the government renamed the authority as GMDA. Suggestions have also been invited from citizens for its logo design. The designs can be submitted till March 4 and the final design will be announced on April 1. The winning design will be receive a prize of ₹1 lakh.
