Process expedited for land lease back to 1,451 villagers in Greater Noida

The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority GNIDA on Wednesday said it has expedited the process for lease back of land of 1,451 villagers in Greater Noida as it received a go-ahead from the Uttar Pradesh government.GNIDA CEO Narendra Bhooshan said the state government had formed a Special Investigation Team SIT to ascertain the ownership claims on the land parcels which had been notified by the authority for acquisition.On the basis of SITs report, the government has given permission to the GNIDA to lease back the abaadi land to 1,451 farmers.

The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) on Wednesday said it has expedited the process for lease back of land of 1,451 villagers in Greater Noida as it received a go-ahead from the Uttar Pradesh government.

GNIDA CEO Narendra Bhooshan said the state government had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to ascertain the ownership claims on the land parcels which had been notified by the authority for acquisition.

"On the basis of SIT's report, the government has given permission to the GNIDA to lease back the 'abaadi' land to 1,451 farmers. These farmers had been demanding from the authority for a long time to lease back the population," Bhooshan said.

"The authority had also been advocating in the favour of the villagers. At present, lease back will be done in the name of 1,451 farmers. The SIT has sought the district administration's report on the claims of the remaining 533 villagers over the issue. Once that is done, the government would take a decision on their claims too," he said.

The senior officer said the GNIDA has expedited work for leasing back the 'abaadi' land to the 1,451 villagers and urged the rightful owners to follow the set procedures to complete the process without difficulty.

According to people privy to the conflict, around 2,000 people from over 40 villages in Greater Noida had been protesting against the "incorrect" acquisition of their 'abaadi' land around 2010 and 2011. Several of them had also moved the Allahabad High Court over the years to retain the ownership of their land in these villages.

The UP government had formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the legal ownership of the land which had been acquired as some 'abaadi' areas were also wrongly notified for acquisition, leading to a situation of conflict between the villagers and GNIDA, they said.

The SIT was formed and probe done amid claims that over the years many native villagers had sold their land to "outsiders" who were getting the lease back benefit instead of the original owners, they added.