Ghaziabad flats deemed unsafe to undergo major reconstruction

The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has announced plans to rebuild a housing complex called Tulsi Niketan, declared unsafe in 2019. The redevelopment will cost around Rs 418 crore and will involve 2,004 economically weaker section (EWS) flats and 288 lower-income group (LIG) flats. The area, built on 7.8 hectares in the 1990s, has suffered from neglect and poor maintenance, angering its residents. In February 2019, an engineering team from Jamia Milia Islamia performed a safety audit on the flats and recommended demolishing most of them. They found that 90% of the flats were in bad shape, while the remaining were not fit for living. Past attempts to redevelop the area did not succeed, leaving around 70,000 residents unhappy. GDA vice-chairperson Atul Vats stated that the board has recently approved a plan to begin redevelopment. A private agency is now working on the project under a public-private partnership (PPP) model. Residents will be temporarily relocated for two years during construction, with costs covered by the developer. The total area planned for redevelopment is 58,500 square meters. The GDA will provide land and regulatory support to help the developer recover costs through commercial and residential sales. However, there are challenges ahead. Only about 10% of the flat owners have property registrations. This issue has caused delays in redevelopment talks in the past, as most flats were transferred through power of attorney rather than registered sales.