Homebuyers' bodies hold protests across Noida

Noida: Calling Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's promise of delivery of 80,000 homes by the end of March 2018 in Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna expressway areas as 'eyewash', homebuyers from various residential projects held silent protests at five different locations in Noida on Monday.

The protests came in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Noida for the inauguration of Delhi Metro's Magenta Line, which connects Noida with south Delhi.

Protests were witnessed at Noida Sector-18, Film City in Sector-16, Botanical Garden, Okhla Bird Sanctuary Metro station and Amity University in Noida's Sector-125. The protesters included residents of projects such as Jaypee Wish Town Noida, Amrapali, Supertech, Unitech, Earth Infrastructure among others.

"Though the government has promised delivery of 80,000 flats by March 2018, these include such units where people have been living for the past few years but their completion certificate (CC) was not issued earlier.

"Now, authorities have started issuing their CC, thus making them fall under the 80,000 flats count. However, no fresh units are being handed over to the buyers, thus making no improvement for the lakhs of homebuyers already in the lurches," Indrish Gupta, co-founder of Noida Extension Flat Owner's Welfare Association (NEFOWA), told Millennium Post.

NEFOWA led the protest in Noida's Sector-18 on Monday morning.

In another protest, around 1,000 buyers clothed in black led a road march by holding placards from Noida's Sector-16 to Sector-18.

Heavy police force was deployed to keep the situation under control.

The protesters alleged that cops had detained a 54-years-old homebuyer from his home on Sunday night, without any reason.

"The 54-year-old home buyers, a member of our association, was detained by police without any reason. When we enquired police about his detainment, they gave us no reason. He was detained for hours and was kept in Sector-24 police station.

"Later, when the Prime Minister left Noida, the cops released him from the police station," said Devendra Yadav, leader of Jaypee Wishtown Buyers' Association. Many buyers were not allowed to enter the Amity University campus by Noida Police, keeping in mind the Prime Minister's inauguration of the Magenta Line at Botanical Garden station.

However, some buyers managed to reach the ground and raised placards. The police, without wasting any time, snatched away the placards and detained a few protesters.