NOIDA: All land belonging to the Greater Noida Authority and lying unused in 14 villages will be given away to compensate for the pending developed plots promised to the farmers of Greater Noida.
The additional chief executive officer of GNIDA, Deepak Agarwal, told TOI that he planned to execute this unfinished business from the 2006-2009 land acquisition within next seven days.
“We will exhaust all our land bank from 14 villages to execute this. We have asked for seven days to get this done,” Agarwal said.
The announcement comes in response to a persistent demand from the farmers of Greater Noida. The farmers have been waiting for distribution of the developed plots for the last one year.
Land acquisition by the Greater Noida Authority between 2006 and 2009 in the Noida Extension area (Greater Noida West) was done by invoking the urgency clause of the Land Acquisition Act of 1894.
However, because of limited interest from industry, the land was sold forward to builders. The farmers protested against the sale to builders by challenging the acquisition in the Allahabad high court. The Allahabad high court upheld the acquisition in exchange for a hiked compensation of 64.7% worth land value and 10% of developed plots in exchange for the farming land being acquired. The Supreme Court upheld this Allahabad high court judgment in May 2015, thus sealing the land acquisition litigation between the farmers and the GNIDA.
The land distribution by the GNIDA will now be two-pronged. According to Deepak Agarwal, those farmers who did not take the legal route, will be given 6%. Those farmers who went to the Allahabad high court and then the Supreme Court will get 10% land, according to the ruling. The original rule of the GNIDA’s land acquisition bid was to provide only 6% developed land in lieu of the farming land acquired.
“For those who have not approached the Allahabad high court or the Supreme Court, the land compensation will be given at the rate of 6% of developed plots. For those who went to the Allahabad high court, we will offer 10% developed plots. We have spare land in 14 villages, we will exhaust all of it in the next seven days,” Agarwal said.
The farmers of Greater Noida had met the GNIDA officers recently, demanding all the dues in terms of developed plots be handed over to the farmers in waiting.
Dushyant Nagar, convener of Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, said that at least 500 or more farmers were waiting for their land compensation. “Ever since our land has been locked in litigation, the farmers have not been able to procure their land from the GNIDA. Of the over 700 farmers who had to get their compensation, only 200 may have got them so far. We now hope that the rest also get the land. The developed plots will ensure the farmers can live in dignity,” Nagar said.
“We hope the land is distributed soon and that no farmer is left out from this land distribution. After a recent meeting with GNIDA officers we were assured that the execution would be speedy,” Manvir Bhati, farmer from Bisrakh and speaker of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti said.