Noida farmers want to construct taller buildings on village land

NOIDA: Farmers of Noida villages have asked the Uttar Pradesh government that they should be allowed to build taller buildings (21 metres in height) on village land.

NOIDA: Farmers of Noida villages have asked the Uttar Pradesh government that they should be allowed to build taller buildings (21 metres in height) on village land. They have also demanded that the map approval norms for buildings in villages should be simplified.

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The farmers put forth their demands in a meeting with Alok Tandon, commissioner, Uttar Pradesh infrastructure and industrial development department, in Lucknow. The meeting held on Tuesday was attended by senior officials of the Noida authority, including additional chief executive officer Praveen Mishra.

On December 21 last year, a group of farmers led by the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti (KSS) had protested outside the Noida authority office, seeking resolution to Abadi land issue and allowing registry in villages. Subsequently, a delegation of farmers met with top officials in Lucknow on Tuesday.

“We demanded that the Noida authority should change their building bylaws for houses in villages. For example, the registry is banned for buildings built above 15 metres of height in villages. We demanded that the authority should allow buildings with at least 21 metres in height,” said Manoj Chauhan, a KSS member.

As per the Noida authority’s building bylaws, a map of a building is approved only after proper setback (distance between two adjacent buildings) on a plot for safety purposes. The authority allows only five-floor building, including ground floor for parking, on plots in a planned sector. However, villagers have demanded that these rules in building bylaws should be changed for the plots located in villages.

“In villages, farmers do not have land records for Abadi land and most of the plots are small in size, where setback norms and other urban town planning rules cannot be implemented. Therefore, the rules for village land should be simplified to benefit farmers, who gave their land for the development of Noida,” said Sukhbir Yadav, another KSS member who attended the Tuesday’s meeting.

Other demands of farmers were that the authority should allot them residential plots and it should not disturb villagers when they build their houses on village land.

The authority officials said that they are looking into all the demands made by farmers. “In the meeting, it was decided that farmers will give suggestions in a week and we will also look out for ways to simplify the building bylaws for village buildings. Once suggestions are submitted, we will discuss the issue with farmers and then simplify the rules,” said Mishra, additional CEO of the authority.

Despite repeated attempts, Tandon could not be contacted for a comment.