Unkept Sigma 2 sector overrun by squatters, residents look to G Noida for help

Greater Noida’s Sigma 2 residents have a lot many grouses these days and unkept parks are just one of them

Greater Noida’s Sigma 2 residents have a lot many grouses these days and unkept parks are just one of them. Their other grouses include green belts that have been encroached upon, a community centre that is in a shambles and unoccupied houses that have been taken over by squatters. Repeated complaints to the Greater Noida authority, they say, have gone unheeded for the past one year.

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Sigma 2 has seven parks and five green belts, of which one has been encroached upon by unauthorised shops, residents said.

“Despite residents speaking about these issues to every official of the Greater Noida authority who visited the sector over the past years, nothing has been done to address them,” said Yogender Bhati, president of the Sigma 2 residents’ welfare society (RWA).

When Hindustan Times visited the sector, the team found the parks in a poor condition -- their boundary walls broken in places, clothes hung out to dry on trees and bushes and cattle left to graze at will. On a tour of the sector, the HT team found that several houses, which had no functioning toilets or power connection, were occupied. “They are squatters. There are at least 300 houses here that the owners have not rented out, but are currently occupied by squatters,” Bhati said.

The community centre in the sector was also found in a state of disrepair— its plastering was peeling off, windows and doors had come unhinged, and the whole establishment had the look of a building left unused for a long time.

“Since the boundary walls of the sector are broken at several places, people from outside leave their cattle to graze in our parks,” said Kuldeep Awana, the RWA vice-president.

“The community centre is in a shambles and all the green belts, both within and outside the sector, as well as our seven parks are in a pathetic state.”

Rajni Nagar, one of the residents, said, “In the absence of functional toilets in most of the houses, squatters defecate in the green belts and open drains. There are human faeces lying all around the sector. At night, we have quite a few inebriated people walking around.”

“With drunk men roaming around, we do not feel safe to go out even for an evening walk. We have invested so much on a house in the city and yet feel like we are living in a shady part of the town,” said Nishita Gupta, a resident.

Yudhishtir Sharma, who lives in another part of Noida, said in the past 15 years, he has removed squatters at least seven times from his house in Sigma 2. “I have finally put a guard there. However, there are many more like me who are struggling with the problem of squatters,” he said.

Will do what we can, says authority

Greater Noida authority CEO Narendra Bhooshan said he will look into the issue of encroachment on the green belt and will evict anyone who violated the law. “We will ensure that parks are repaired and maintained. We told the RWA to run the community centre as a club, or as a venue for holding events, on a revenue sharing basis with the authority. This will ensure upkeep of the place as well as generate revenue for its maintenance,” he said.

On the boundary wall issue, Bhooshan said government sectors are not supposed to have one. “If it is a security concern, the RWA may employ security guards as is being done in other sectors,” he said.

Bhooshan said the issue of squatters was a law-and-order one for which the property owner must approach the police.

Yograj Singh, general secretary of the RWA, said they have appealed to the police in this regard. “We made a list of 128 plots that are being illegally occupied and submitted it to the police. We also raised with the police the issue of increasing crime in our sector,” he said.

Rajesh Kumar Singh, deputy commissioner of police, Greater Noida, said, “I have directed officials to inquire into the law-and-order situation in the sector. As far as unauthorised occupancy is concerned, the plot owners need to move the court for civil eviction as that is not a police matter.”