Greater Noida promises plots to angry farmers
Reacting to farmers’ protest for residential plots, the Greater Noida authority on Tuesday said that it will carve out plots on 2,800 acres and allot it to the aggrieved farmers.
Reacting to farmers’ protest for residential plots, the Greater Noida authority on Tuesday said that it will carve out plots on 2,800 acres and allot it to the aggrieved farmers.
“Farmers need not resort to protests. They should patiently wait as we have decided to transform all available land, excluding green and commercial land, into residential plots. Once we complete the process of change of land use, we will start allotting residential plots to them,” said Deepak Agarwal, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Greater Noida authority.
Following directions of the Supreme Court dated May 14, 2015 and an order of the Allahabad high court dated October 11, 2011, the authority was to distribute 10% developed plots in lieu of land acquired from farmers for urbanisation.
A group of farmers protesting for plots on Tuesday clashed with police outside the authority office in Chitvan Estate area.
“We approved the land use change proposal in our board meeting last month. Now, we are seeking the approval of the state government. Once the government approves it, we will obtain approval from the national capital region planning board (NCRPB). Once NCRPB gives green signal, we will start allotment to farmers,” Agarwal said.
According to officials, the authority has allotted 10% developed plots to farmers of 19 villages.
“We do not have residential land to allot to farmers of another 20 villages. Therefore, we are changing land use of around 2000 acres earmarked for industries, institutional and group housings categories. To give relief to farmers, we have also postponed plans to allot residential land to builders,” Agarwal said.
Prior to the Supreme Court order of May 14, 2015, the authority was allotting only 6%developed plots against the total land acquired from a farmer. But after the apex court order, the authority faced issues as it did not have enough residential land.
Farmers, however, are not buying the authority’s assurances.
“The authority officials are not willing to allot 10% developed residential plots to all eligible farmers and have already allotted most of the land to builders. If the authority does not accept our demands, we will continue our protest,” said Manveer Bhati of Kisan Sangharsh Samiti.
