Noida farmers set Aug 5 deadline

[अर्णब् मुखर्जी]

Noida farmers set Aug 5 deadline
July 25, 2011 12:38:15 AM

SP SINGH | Sorkha Village (NOIDA)

Mahapanchayat threatens to stop construction work on housing projects

In view of the Allahabad High Court judgements to quash the land
acquisition of various sites in Greater Noida, a mahapanchayat of
Noida farmers on Sunday extended by five days their deadline for
return of five per cent land developed after acquiring it and
threatened to stop construction work on housing projects if the
authorities failed to meet their demands. The farmers belonging to
villages along the Noida Expressway had earlier set July 31 as their
deadline for meeting their demands.

Taking a decision in the maha-panchayat under the banner of the Kisan
Sangharsh Samiti (farmers’ struggle committee) a resolution was
adopted to disrupt the work of all builders along the Expressway if
their demands were not met by August 5, 2011.

Announcing their latest resolution, the farmers of the Sorkha
Jahidabad struggle committee said earlier the ultimatum was given to
meet their demand latest by July 31 but since the CEO was transferred
and a new CEO Balvinder Singh had taken charge the struggle committee
decided grant some more time and by passing the resolution the time
has been extended to August 5, 2011.

They issued an ultimatum to the Noida Authority to meet their demands
latest by August 5 failing which they would launch city-wide
disruption of builders’ work. The time to meet their demands has been
extended because the authority has a new CEO announced the farmer
leader Naresh Yadav.

The mahapanchayat was attended by farmers from Sorkha, Sarfabad,
Barola, Salarpur and Kakrala.

“As the CEO is new, we want him to get more time to work on our
demands. The DCEO is also in touch with us so we are not engaging in
any such work. But the officials have repeatedly deceived us with
their false assurances. This is the last time,” said Naresh Yadav,
coordinator of Sorkha Jahidabad Kisan Sangharsh Samiti.

The farmers of Sorkha were protesting against the Noida Authority for
denying allotment of residential plots that they were supposed to get
in lieu of the acquisition of their agricultural lands in the nearby
sectors 74, 75 and 76. These sectors, they said, had instead, been
sold off to private builders. About 650 acres of land in Sorkha were
reportedly acquired by the authority while nearly 120 acres was
purchased by it directly from the farmers through mutual negotiations
over a period of time in 2001, 2006 and 2010. All farmers, whose lands
were acquired or purchased directly by the authority, were eligible to
get a plot measuring 5 percent of the size of the plots they had
surrendered in a developed sector. While many of the villagers of
Sorkha, Sarfabad and Barola managed to get plots in Sector 112, many
others were denied plots on “some pretexts or the other”.

Last Saturday, farmers and buyers had been on protest march in Noida
and Greater Noida throughout the day. While the farmers protested the
new land acquisition policy announced by the state. The agitated
buyers also launched an protest march from Noida gate at sector-14 A
right upto Noida authority’s office at sector-6. Their grievances were
that they were the real sufferers of the latest developments after the
court judgments. Their hard earned money has been blocked in
uncertainty.

“These banks, both private and nationalized, financed us on the
conviction that their titles were clear. Now, the same banks have
refused to loan us further on the ground that their title is not
clear,” he said, adding that “there was a clear nexus between the
authority, builders and banks”. “While the banks continue charging
interest from us at 10.5 percent and above, these builders have
forfeited our amount. Twenty percent of our monthly pay goes off as
EMI,” said Sharad Pandey, who booked with Panchsheel Highness.

Reacting to the buyers’ grievances, R.K. Arora, MD- Supertech, said,
“We will soon send them letters asking them either to transfer to any
of our other project in Noida Extension or relocate to any other place
in Noida or get their refund. So far, we have not received a single
application for refund. Still, if anybody wants, we will return back
entire money without any deduction.”

In yet another panchayat held at Nagli Wajeedpur village, the farmers
from Nagli Nagla, Rohillapur, Shahpur, Asgarpur, Gheja and Chapraula,
declared to stop the work of all builders on and along the Yamuna
Expressway if their 21 demands were not met by the Noida Authority by
July 31.

Claiming that the authority had been “befooling” them for the last
almost two years, the farmers asked for a written promise from the new
CEO Balvinder Singh had given him “nine days time to settle their
demands”.

Earlier in Shahberi village as the Greater Noida authority announced
that the land of Shahberi village would be acquired under the newly
introduced land acquisition policy by the state. “Complying with the
High Court orders that the land, acquired earlier after scrapping
section 5 of the Act, would be handed over to the farmers back after
the farmer complete legal formalities and refund the compensation
accepted by them” said CEO of Greater Noda authority Ramaraman.

“After the formalities are completed the land would be notified under
section 4 of the Act and the objections would be invited from the
farmer. After resoling objections the land would be finally acquired
and would be dispensed accordingly under the new policy” further added
Ramaraman the CEO.

But the farmers organizations opposed the move and termed it the
‘conspiracy hatched by the state under the obligation committed
earlier to the builders’ and reiterated their stand to oppose and
expose the government to oblige the private builders.

“We would file a petition before the Allahabad High Court seeking CBI
investigation in to the role of senior Greater Noida officials who had
arbitrarily grabbed farmers land and handed over to the private
builders by scrapping section 5 of the land acquisition Act by
changing land use overnight at Lucknow” said Satya Pal Chaudhary the
Dehat Morcha leader on whose writ the acquisition was quashed by the
Allahabad High Court.


http://www.dailypioneer.com/355763/Noida-farmers-set-Aug-5-deadline.html