Ghaziabad: Residents’ groups in the district have opposed the state govt’s decision to shift the office of the deputy registrar (firms, societies and chits) to GB Nagar, saying the move will inconvenience office-bearers and registered residents’ bodies. A resident group, Social Awareness Society, urged authorities to reconsider the decision and appoint separate deputy registrars for the two districts. Vineet Sharma of the group said the relocation would affect routine administrative work. “Office-bearers of the residents’ bodies will have to travel to another district for registrations, renewals and other formalities,” he said.The letter was addressed to the Prime Minister, the chief minister, the chief secretary, the registrar (firms, societies and chits), and the district magistrate. Around 15,500 societies are registered across the two districts, including RWAs, AOAs, NGOs and welfare bodies. Of these, about 10,000 are in Ghaziabad and around 5,500 in GB Nagar.The Ghaziabad office currently operates with a staff strength of around 13 and handles work for both districts. Sharma said records remain largely undigitised and infrastructure is still being streamlined. “Instead of strengthening the existing office through additional staff and digitisation, shifting it to another district reflects poor assessment of ground realities,” he said.Residents also expressed concern that no provision has yet been made for weekly sittings in Ghaziabad after the shift.Dipanshu Mittal, executive member of the Raj Nagar Extension federation, said the city has nearly twice the number of registered housing societies as Noida. “Shifting the office despite this imbalance is impractical and will inconvenience thousands of residents,” he said.An official from the registrar department said, “While Ghaziabad currently has more societies due to its larger population, GB Nagar is expected to see rapid growth in high-rise housing,” the official said.
