Greater Noida chairman orders probe into leaseback scam - Hindustan Times
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Greater Noida chairman orders probe into leaseback scam

Hindustan Times | By, Greater Noida
Jul 07, 2017 10:00 PM IST

The scam pertains to leaseback of residential land to non-farmers in violation of the norms. Leaseback means the authority (government) gave the notified land back to farmers.

The Greater Noida authority chairman Dr Prabhat Kumar has appointed two IAS officers to probe the alleged land leaseback scam.

The authority had mistakenly acquired parts of residential land owned by farmers for development and other infrastructure projects in last the eight to ten years.(Vinod Rajput/HT Photo)
The authority had mistakenly acquired parts of residential land owned by farmers for development and other infrastructure projects in last the eight to ten years.(Vinod Rajput/HT Photo)

The scam pertains to leaseback of residential land to non-farmers in violation of the norms. Leaseback means the authority (government) gave the notified land back to farmers.

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The authority had mistakenly acquired parts of residential land owned by farmers for development and other infrastructure projects in last the eight to ten years. However, faced with strong objection and farmers protests over the wrong acquisition of farmers’ land meant for residential purposes, the authority officials had decided that the residential land would be leased back to them.

“In the guise of leasing back land to local farmers, the Greater Noida authority officials leased back the residential land to non-farmers, who did not even belong to this place, in clear violation of the norms. I was shocked to know that some people belonging to Maharashtra were allotted the prime land, among the plots leased back, in violation of norms,” said Kumar.

Officials estimate the scam to run into crores of rupees.

The chairman has appointed Gautam Budh Nagar district magistrate BN Singh to probe the leaseback cases that took place in former chief minister Mayawati’s native place of Badalpur in Greater Noida. Sources said that around 1 lakh square metres of land, worth Rs500 crore, was leased back in the Badalpur area alone.

“The Greater Noida authority has leased back land to around 150 people in last eight to ten years. The probe will scrutinize the anomalies that took place in the leaseback process. The policy was meant only for local farmers. The objective of the policy was to give farmers their land that was wrongly acquired. However, officials have exploited that policy to make money,” Kumar said.

He has appointed Yamuna Expressway authority chief executive officer Arun Vir Singh to probe around 150 leaseback cases (other than in Badalpur) that took place in Greater Noida.

Sources said that two top officials have been assigned to investigate the issue as the chairman has fixed a deadline of June 30 for the probe.

“I have asked additional district magistrate Kumar Vineet to probe this matter,” said BN Singh, district magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar. He refused to make any other comment on the issue.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Vinod Rajput writes on environment, infrastructure, real estate and government policies in Noida and Greater Noida. He has reported on environment and infrastructure in Delhi, Gurgaon and Panchkula in the past.

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