Ghaziabad authority gets one more year to declare land compensation in Madhuban Bapudham scheme

Farmers holding 281 acres, acquired by GDA, had challenged the acquisition and moved the Supreme Court.

The state administration on Wednesday extended the ‘declaration of notification’ by a period of one year with regard to the land acquired for Madhuban Bapudham housing scheme.

The housing scheme, bigger than Indirapuram, is spread over 1,234 acres of land from villages of Sadarpur, Mainapur, Naglapath, Yaqoobpur and Morta. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

On the day when farmers were expecting an announcement on the declaration of land compensation, the administration invoked clauses of The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

Now, the authority has until November 2019 for declaring the compensation. The housing scheme, bigger than Indirapuram, is spread over 1,234 acres of land from villages of Sadarpur, Mainapur, Naglapath, Yaqoobpur and Morta.

Farmers holding 281 acres, acquired by GDA, challenged the acquisition and moved the Supreme Court. In November 2016, the apex court directed that a revised compensation needs to be paid as per the provisions of the Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation & Resettlement Act – 2013.

Officials of the district land acquisition department said that the declaration of notification (confirmation of land acquisition) is done within a period of one year after preliminary publication (Section 4 of the old Act and Section 11 of the new Act) of notification for land acquisition.

District magistrate Ritu Maheshwari said that the date of Supreme Court order (in November 2016) was considered the date of fresh notification.

“So, under the provisions of the new Act, we had sent a proposal to the government for extending the date. The GDA will try to pool funds and the farmers can also come up with their objections. We will decide if we will take up the entire 281 acres or only parts that we require,” she said.

Effectively, farmers will be able to get a compensation only after November 2018.

The DM also reiterated that farmers will only be offered double the rate of prevailing circle rates on the basis of agricultural land. However, farmers are demanding compensation as per residential rates.

While the farmers were expecting the declaration of compensation by November 29, divisional commissioner (Meerut) had also put up a restriction, which he said was as per law. He directed the GDA to deposit Rs1,282 crore (equivalent to compensation on double the prevailing circle rate) before the compensation was declared.

“For our part, if we consider the Supreme Court judgement date as the date of notification of land acquisition, the land acquisition stands scrapped. We will notify the GDA and then move the high court to free the land from the acquisition process. Since the authority has not awarded compensation, our land is now free. We will take legal recourse to get our land,” said Sudesh Pal, a farmer leader from Sadarpur.