GMADA Releases Draft Master Plans for Kurali and Gharuan, Opening 78 Villages to Formal Urban Planning

What Happened: Two Draft Plans Released Simultaneously

On 3 July 2026, GMADA released the draft of a long-awaited, dedicated GMADA master plan Kurali, marking a significant shift in how the authority approaches planning across Greater Mohali. For the first time in the history of Mohali, since it was folded into the region's 2009 planning exercise, Kurali is being treated as a town in its own right, with its own zoning, its own roads and its own future.

Concurrent with the Kurali plan, the Directorate of Town and Country Planning, Punjab, is set to amend the regional plan of Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) so as to introduce industrial and commercial activities in the Gharuan area and across nearly 3,000 acres of land in 16 surrounding villages on the pattern of other urban settlements in the district.

Why This Matters: Formal Structure for Unplanned Growth

Earlier, Kurali was technically a part of that same regional umbrella, stuffed into the broader GMADA regional master plan 2031 vision for the district, but it never received a master plan of its own territory. For the span of fifteen years, Kurali grew the way small Punjab towns often do: organically, unevenly and largely outside any formal GMADA Local Planning Area Kurali framework.

With Mohali and Kharar urbanising rapidly and land along the Kurali corridor becoming harder to ignore, GMADA has now decided the town deserves the same structured treatment its neighbours got over a decade ago.

The Gharuan amendment reflects similar pressure. Officials said Gharuan, currently a Nagar Panchayat, was facing tremendous pressure of development due to its proximity to Kharar.

The Gharuan Land Use Breakdown

According to the draft land use plan, Gharuan, Mamupur, Sakrulapur, Barauli, Hasanpur, Roorkee Pukhta, Simbal Majra and Peer Suhana have been proposed to be designated as residential zones, and Machhipur, Thedi, Sil Kapda, Batta, Bibipur, Roda, Bajheri, Mahmudpur and Sotal villages as agricultural zones. Government land in Sil and Gadanga villages is proposed to be designated as an industrial zone.

The dual-zoning strategy allows GMADA to retain green and agricultural buffer zones while opening specific village locations to structured residential and industrial development.

Expert Concerns and Procedural Safeguards

The Punjab chapter of the Institute of Town Planners, besides land owners and other stakeholders have flagged multiple serious lapses in the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority's (GMADA) recently notified draft regional master plan for Kurali—comprising 78 villages—alleging lack of proper surveys, zoning anomalies and procedural violations.

Questioning the very foundation of the draft plan, Gurpreet Singh, a former Chief Town Planner (CTP) one of the major anomalies was a huge gap in residential continuity between the proposed master plans of Kurali and Gharaun. According to sources, the consultant has failed to earmark any 'Mixed Land Use' areas along key high-potential routes, including the Kharar-Kurali National Highway and the Kurali Bypass—a move that stands in stark contradiction to standard master plans implemented across Punjab.

Proposed changes, like the recent draft amendment introducing industrial and commercial zoning around Gharuan, go through a public objection window before they are finalised. Nothing changes overnight and that slowness is precisely what protects the value of the plot you already hold.

Next Steps: Public Objection Period and Finalisation

The draft is currently at the draft stage—not yet approved—and public objections and suggestions are being invited under Punjab's planning laws. Investors and buyers should treat this as an early-signal opportunity, not a guaranteed development outcome.

Under the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development (PRTPD) Act, 1995, a master plan cannot supercede or violate a higher-tier notified Regional Plan without explicit, legally backed environmental justification. The formal hearing of objections process will determine whether zoning anomalies flagged by the Institute of Town Planners require revision before the plans are notified as final.

Context: Broader GMADA Expansion Program

The Kurali and Gharuan announcements are part of a wider series of GMADA acquisition and planning initiatives across Greater Mohali and New Chandigarh.

The most active 2026 schemes include Aerotropolis Mohali, the revived Eco City 3 project in New Chandigarh and the draft master plans for Kurali and Gharuan, all at different stages of acquisition or public objection.

GMADA has issued a Section 4(1) notification for Eco City 4, covering 526.03 acres across four villages—Kartarpur, Kansala, Rajgarh, and Boothgarh—in the Kharar tehsil of Mohali district. On June 2, 2026, the state issued a notification under Section 4(1) of the LARR Act to compulsorily acquire 526.03 acres across four villages in Majri sub-tehsil of Kharar tehsil, Mohali district: Kartarpur, Kansala, Rajgarh, and Boothgarh. The project is Eco City-4, to be developed by GMADA.

Aerotropolis spans roughly 5,500 acres divided into nine pockets near Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport, with Pockets A through D in active development and Pocket A partly under a pending court dispute. The Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) has issued the final notification to acquire close to 197 acres (196.4438 acres, to be precise) of land spread across four villages. The land is being taken over to build a brand-new commercial sector, Sector 87, envisioned as a retail, business and civic hub, much like the iconic Sector 17 of Chandigarh.