Ghaziabad: Bolly Khari, a resident of Subhash Bazar in Khoda, was overjoyed when he received his permanent house number for the first time since the Khoda locality came into existence in the 1980s. Officials of the Khoda Nagar Palika said all 45,064 houses in the area will be getting their house numbers for the first time. Khari, along with several others, received his permanent house number during an event held on Sunday at the Nagar Palika. He said it will help him shun his previous temporary house number, which was based on his ration card.

“Residents of Khoda have been facing issues due to this for the past several decades, as the houses were generally identified on the basis of ration card numbers. So, the word ‘RC’ was prefixed with the temporary house number, which was difficult to find out. Many times, the postman would return, unable to locate recipients. Residents faced problems while opening bank accounts as well, which require permanent house numbers,” Khari said. “In many cases, the cheque books issued from banks would get returned as the delivery man could not locate the house numbers based on ration cards. Even our voter ID cards had the old ration card-based house number. Many a time, anyone not familiar with the area, coming as a guest or for some other work, would also return. People often locate houses by asking locals by way names of residents,” Khari further.

Khoda is a densely populated area adjacent to National Highway 9 under the jurisdiction of Ghaziabad district. Most residents are employed in service works, odd-jobs and daily wage earners, a majority of whom are migrants. It is ticked between Ghaziabad, Noida and Delhi. Housing in the area is unplanned, and several constructions do not adhere to building by-laws. Most of the walkways in the city are in the form of congested lanes and by-lanes, while some are so narrow that two persons cannot pass through at once, side by side.

KK Bhadana, the executive-officer of the Khoda Nagar Palika, said that the local body came into existence on March 10, 2016. Khoda was formerly an old village, the development of which into a colony took place from the 1980s onwards. “Now, we have started the process and an agency will be serially numbering the houses from 1 to 45,064 in the next three months. This will immensely help local residents. Number plates for the house will also be distributed to residents. Before this, it was difficult to locate houses across the 34 residential wards,” he added.

The first house number was allotted to Nagar Palika chairperson, Reena Bhati, and to the 34 elected councillors and four nominated councillors, after which allotment to other residents began. Khari was among the first non-elected residents to get the house number. “The Khoda locality has 73 Mohallas in 34 residential wards and is a small city in itself. The process of allotment of numbers will be done serially and not in groups. When more houses come into existence, they will be issued numbers serially,” Bhadana added.

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