The Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) has hit back.
Farmers moving court will not get back their abadi land, which they claim, was wrongly acquired by the authority. As a result of non-settlement of the abadi land disputes, farmers will also not get developed plots, as rehabilitation benefit, in lieu of their farmland acquired. Other farmers are entitled to these two benefits, in addition to cash compensation.
“It’s a double whammy for us. We are entitled to getting back our abadi land. The government’s leaseback policy says so. This is not all. Since the government has always made it clear that until the abadi land dispute is solved, rehabilitation benefits by way of allotment of develop land cannot be given to farmers,” said Mahesh Awana, a farmer leader.
Those who have already got back their abadi land and developed plots and have moved court will have to forfeit these two benefits. “This is being done to put pressure on those moving court against the authority’s land acquisition policies,” said Manveer Bhati, another farmer leader.
GNIDA chief executive officer (CEO) Rama Raman said, “It’s our policy not to give these two benefits to those farmers who contest our acquisition policies in court.”
“There are two kinds of post-acquisition disputes — sometimes the authority is found to have acquired portions of farmers’ abadi land, while at other times farmers resort to encroachment and add to the actual abadi land. In the first case, we lease the acquired portion of abadi land back to farmers and in the second, farmers forfeit the encroached area. Allotment of developed land to farmers has to follow these two steps, depending on the case,” said an official.
{{/usCountry}}“There are two kinds of post-acquisition disputes — sometimes the authority is found to have acquired portions of farmers’ abadi land, while at other times farmers resort to encroachment and add to the actual abadi land. In the first case, we lease the acquired portion of abadi land back to farmers and in the second, farmers forfeit the encroached area. Allotment of developed land to farmers has to follow these two steps, depending on the case,” said an official.
{{/usCountry}}The authority is also taking stern legal action against those who protested land acquisition, but are selling plots to colonisers. The authority has ordered lodging of FIRs against those involved in land deals in Noida Extension.
More than 1,000 land registries between farmers and colonisers have been executed in the area and a massive slum on the lines of Khoda (located off NH-24) is feared in Noida Extension too.
Government rules say in industrial townships, only development authorities can acquire land. The authority has ordered demolition of illegal colonies coming up in the area.
This has come after Hindustan Times on Thursday carried a report highlighting the fact that with the acquisition of land in Shahberi set aside by court and other villages seeking similar relief, colonisers have become active in the region.
During the hearing of the Shahberi case in the Supreme Court, the authority had said that it was forced to acquire land from farmers to ensure planned development and avoid illegal growth. The authority had bought land from farmers at R8 lakh per bigha. Colonisers are offering R35 lakh for the same size of land.