NOIDA to give developed plots to those whose lands have been acquired

In order to address land related rows and to minimise litigations, the Noida Authority has announced to give developed plots to the farmers or their  descendants whose lands were acquired between 1976 to 1997. 

The authority has said that as many as 2,349 families which have been residing in NOIDA area will avail the benefit of it and the process of allotment will be done via post so they (authority) could avoid fraudulent by fake applicants. “The applicants will have to submit their original bank signatures and certified documents in a month that will be examined during the allotment process. If the information were found fake, they will face cancellation,” said Rajesh Prakash, Additional Chief Executive Officer (ACEO) of the Authority. 

The official informed that the plots will be allotted in several phases and in the first phase a total of 505 plots will be handed over to the beneficiaries. In the second phase a total of 800 plots will be allotted to the farmers. 

“We have decided to give ownership in phase-wise manner which is likely to be completed by end of February. To avoid false allotment and middlemen, we have decided to execute the entire process in a transparent manner. The eligible owners/descendents/families will be communicated through post and final approval will be made after submission of required papers/proofs. The process was initiated on Thursday following which the announcement was made,” he said.

Additionally, the authority has also decided to issue allotment letters to 2,215 plots of 5 per cent of total land acquired to those farmers whose land was taken by authority till 1997 under farmers’ quota scheme 2011. The ACEO said that the flats would be allotted by a draw in February. “We have ordered to issue provisional letters to the farmers or their descendents by speed post who had applied in the Farmer Quota Scheme . The lands have been marked in Noida Sector 151 and Sector 145 where developed plots will be entitled to farmers. The plots will be 162 meters in size.”

In July 2011, Noida Authority had launched Farmer Quota Scheme for those farmers whose land had acquired by the authority for urbanisation prior to 1997. But the scheme got cancelled midway owing to the controversy pertaining to eligibility of a farmer, who can apply for it. Therefore, eligible farmers suffered for last four years, and kept protesting for the re-launch of the same scheme again. 

Now, the authority has resolved the eligibility issues in its board meeting and incorporated farmers as well as their descendents with conditions in this scheme.

Reacting over the issue, farmers’ right s activist Dushyant Naagar said that the authority’s move is too little and too late. He said that rather than providing a fixed size of land, they should be given 10 per cent of developed plots. 

“The Supreme Court, in its previous order, has directed to give 10 per cent of developed land so farmers, whose land have been acquired during 1976 to 1997, should be 

treated accordingly. In addition to this, the facility should be for the farmers of Ghaziabad, Bulandshar and other neighbouring parts as these parts were in Noida earlier,” said Naagar.