Residents allotted plots by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) are planning to launch a protest next month in the absence of any clear-cut decision on the amount to be paid by them to compensate farmers.
The allottees said notices sent to them by the GNIDA mentioned a compensation amount that was higher than what they had paid for the plot itself.
While the Authority has decided to recall the notices sent to allottees in Swarn Nagri and Sector 36, families living in the remaining sectors that have come up on a four-village cluster (Achher, Tugalpur, Haldona and Kasna) are in the dark about the amount.
The allottees who have been asked to pay a higher compensation amount are in blocks P, Omicron, Phi, Chi and Sigma.
Pretosh Bhati, general secretary of Sector P 3, is among those asked to pay a higher compensation. “Back in the 1990s, I had booked a 200sqmt plot in the same sector. At that time, I had paid about Rs 2.3-2.4 lakh. However, in 2015-16, I received a notice to pay an additional amount of Rs 2.6 lakh. It had to be given to farmers. Residents have decided to oppose this move,” said Bhati. About 1,800 families stay in Sector P 3.
From the time the industrial township was conceived in Greater Noida, the local authority has allocated 28,438 residential plots across the city. The old blocks, Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta, had been developed in the 90s and GNIDA commanded a premium of Rs 850 per sqmt in the beginning.
Between 2005 and 2009, the land that GNIDA had acquired from farmers in more than 60 villages was considered for the additional compensation. “Though some of the sectors had been developed after Noida Extension in the Kasna belt, the land here was acquired in the late 80s or early 90s. No additional compensation was paid to the farmers then. We have appealed to the authority to withdraw the notice for 64.7% additional compensation,” said Kailash Bhati, president of the resident welfare association of Sector 36.
He said the protests were being planned for mid-September if GNIDA fails to settle their demand by then. “We do not want to call large groups till then due to the pandemic. But residents are running out of patience,” added Bhati.
GNIDA officials confirmed that 2,000 to 2,500 farmers in the four villages had not been paid since they were not considered eligible for 64.7% additional compensation. “We will soon start the process of recalling the notices served to residents of the sectors that have been developed on these four villages,” an official said.
