The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) has announced plans to create a dedicated master plan for 61 villages located within 500 meters on both sides of the Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) and the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE). Of these, 32 villages are situated along the DME corridor and 29 along the EPE corridor. The initiative is being taken to maintain urban growth in areas that where infrastrcture transfiormation is rakiung place and are near expressways.
Right now, these villages are managed by gram panchayats, which often lack the resources and capacity to handle the pressures of rapid development. As per TOI , a GDA official said, “A separate master plan will help regulate growth around these villages. We plan to hire a consultant to prepare it, which will be incorporated into the district's unified Master Plan 2031. These villages were earlier governed by gram panchayats, so a plan was mooted to bring villages within 500 meters on both sides under GDA. The GDA board in March cleared decks for the assimilation of these villages, which will now come into effect after notification from the state government. DME and EPE — since their commissioning — opened up growth opportunities. At the same time, due to their proximity to nearby villages, they are also witnessing exponential and unregulated growth.”iction will allow us to plan infrastructure, utilities, and urban services in a systematic manner.”
The plan to merge these villages into the GDA purview has been talked about for over a decade. The NCR Planning Cell in its 2011-12 sub-regional development plan had indicated that the villages along the major expressways would probably experience fast growth after the roads became operational. Several of these villages were, at that time, not under the control of any development authority, which led to worries that the uncontrolled growth might result in congestion, lack of proper infrastructure, and unplanned urban sprawl.
An NCR Planning Board official elaborated,“In 2018, we wrote to GDA seeking to table the proposal at its board meeting. According to our survey, these villages fall along both sides of EPE in Modinagar, Loni in Ghaziabad, and Kekhra in Baghpat district. Likewise, on the DME side, most of these villages are in Modinagar and the Ghaziabad city side.”
Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) wants to add 16 more villages to the list of Hapur-Pilakhua Development Authority (HPDA) villages, apart from 61 villages which have already been included. According to GDA, these villages come under its jurisdiction and need planning so that the region can be developed in an orderly way.
But, in August 2025, the Vice-Chairperson of HPDA had disagreed with the proposal and since then the work has been on hold.
If proposal be approved, it would have a huge impact on the area's growth. Instead of leaving infrastructure to be poorly managed, proper roads, drainage, water supply, electricity, and sewage systems could be installed. Besides, it would refrain from unregulated constructions that may cause problems for the residents. The villages are close to which means it has great potential for new homes, shops, and small businesses. This, in turn, could create jobs and enlarge the local economy.
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