The state government on Tuesday named Kanchan Verma, a 2005 batch IAS officer who is presently posted as district magistrate of Mirzapur, as the vice-chairman of Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA).
In the first round of reshuffle, the government had removed the senior officials from Noida, Greater Noida and GDA. Outgoing GDA vice-chairman, Vijay Kumar Yadav, is on the wait list.
Verma was honoured with the Prime Minister’s award for Excellence in Public Administration in 2013-14. She received appreciation for reviving the long-dead Sasur Kahderi-2 rivulet and its origin, Thithora lake, in Fatehpur, where she served as district magistrate in 2013.
Last year, she was transferred to Mirzapur from the post of special secretary in infrastructure and industry department. She has also served as the chief development officer of Gautam Budh Nagar in 2008-09. She has worked at Balrampur, Sant Ravidas Nagar and had also served at Bareilly and Sitapur in the initial phase of her career.
The major challenges Verma will face is to expedite funding for the under-construction metro and bailing out GDA from the imminent fund crunch. Also, she will have to deal with the ongoing CAG audit.
The GDA had already been under attack over the issue of CAG audit as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had targeted the authority and alleged “zameeno ka ghotala” (land scams) in his February 8 election rally in Ghaziabad.
The previous government refused to allow a CAG audit of GDA, despite the UP governor demanding an audit of accounts.
