Ghaziabad was a tehsil of Meerut until November 14, 1976, when it was made a district. Growing by leaps and bounds, the city has not looked back since then, and is today one of the hottest realty destinations in the NCR. A K TIWARY writes
After Noida, Greater Noida and Gurgaon, it is the right time to invest in Ghaziabad, which is developing into a hot destination and is also known as the gateway of Uttar Pradesh. The budding city is slated to have multiple projects like a number of shopping malls, multiplexes, and residential and commercial development. Keeping the pace of development and rising demand, a lot of developers and builders are moving towards Ghaziabad, which is 19km east of Delhi and 46km southwest of Meerut.
The city is the headquarters of the Ghaziabad district. Initially, it was part of the Meerut district after Independence but now, it is a full-fledged district.
The city gets its name from its founder, Ghazi-ud-din, who named it Ghaziuddinnagar. Later, the name was shortened to Ghaziabad. It is a large industrial city and is well connected by roads and railways. It has multifarious industries like maintenance depots of electric locomotives and EMU trains, manufacture units of railway wagons, bicycles, tapestries, glassware, pottery, paint and varnish, heavy chains, etc. Also, it has an ordnance factory at Muradnagar while the Bharat Electronics limited manufactures defence products.
Once notorious for the staggering rate of crime and law and order problem (it had been ranked third on the list of world's most crime infested cities sometime in the early 1980's), today, the city stands as one of Uttar Pradesh's most developed cities. The city is regarded by City Mayors and Newsweek as the 2nd and 6th fastest developing city in the world, respectively. The city has well-planned roads, malls, flyovers and the Metro connectivity.
From the historical cultural, mythological and archaeological point of view, Ghaziabad is a prosperous city. This has been proved from the research work and excavations carried out at the mound of Kaseri on the bank of river Hindon, 2km north of Mohan Nagar, showing remnants of a flourishing civilization here in 2,500 BC.
Cut to the present day, the city is going to have a 360 degree development in all segments including commercial, residential, office space, education and industrial. Places like Raj Nagar Extension, Kavi Nagar, and Indirapuram, including areas near Dilshad Garden border, Apsara border, Loni border and NH 24 to NH 58 will be the focus of development and in the city. One can see major developments by SVP Group, Supertech, Antriksh, Assotech, among others, which have big projects right in Mohan Nagar, the entry point of Ghaziabad city. SVP Group's is developing the Gulmohur Greens, which is spread over 23 acres. This is a complete residential project with around 1,200 residential units, which include flats, villa apartments and three-tier penthouses with terrace gardens and pools. SVP also has a commercial project, Gateway Mall, spread over 6 acres at Mohan Nagar.
From here, when one starts moving towards Ghaziabad City, you will see one of the first affordable projects of the NCR, the Raj Nagar Extension, after crossing the Hindon river bridge. This township, coming up over more then 150 acres, has 15 developers with each of them coming up with a slew of affordable housing projects. The SVP Group has two residential projects, Gulmohar Garden over 15 acres and Krishna Garden on 6 acres, both having nearly 1,400 residential units. According to the Master Plan 2021, the total population of the city is expected to be nearly 23 lakh. As per the plan, about 6,975 hectares would be utilized for residential use, 491 hectares for commercial, 1,933 hectares for industrial, 501 hectares for office, 1,201 hectares for public and utility services, 2,484 hectares for parks and entertainment, and nearly 1,392 hectares for roads, bus depots and railways. In order to facilitate technology-oriented growth, the plan also allocates nearly 2,185 hectares of land for hi-tech cities in Ghaziabad. The Ghaziabad Development Authority is quite bullish regarding the infrastructure development in the city and nearby areas. An equal stress is also being given to have sustainable and planned development.
The government is encouraging tree plantation and energy-efficient buildings and technologies in the construction in this area. Considering the developments taking place in Ghaziabad, one cannot doubt that the region will sport a completely different look in the near future. Major construction work is taking place on NH 24 and NH 58 and offers a large number of residential options in the affordable and luxury category. SVP Group also has a luxury project Villa Anandam on NH 58. The project with 198 villas will be spread over 12 acres.
Before November 14, 1976, Ghaziabad was a tehsil of Meerut district. Then chief minister N D Tiwari declared Ghaziabad a district on that date and from that time there was no looking back for this city - be it on the social, economic, agriculture or the industrial front.
Ghaziabad lies on the Grand Trunk road about a mile east of the Hindon river. Other roads lead northwest to Loni and Baghpat and east to Hapur and Garhmukteshwar. Buses operate at frequent intervals from here to Delhi, Meerut, Aligarh, Bulandshahar, Moradabad, Lucknow, and to other districts as well. It is an important junction on the Northern Railway where railway lines, from Delhi to Kolkata, Moradabad and Saharanpur meet, connecting it with many important cities across India.
