Noida farmers to stall building projects

Farmers of around 54 villages Sunday threatened to stall the projects of builders to protests against the alleged inaction of Noida Authority in meeting their demands over land takeover.

The farmers announced their plan to stall all building projects in sectors 74-79 and 112-121. The villagers whose land was acquired for the development of Noida, also held a hunger strike on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

“The authority's CEO assured us in writing twice. We had given them time till Oct 2 to settle our issues but they are simply not keen to look into them,” said Naresh Yadav, convener of the Sorkha Jahidabad Kisan Sangharsh Samiti.

“We are ready to face lathicharge and prepared for going to jail. There would be an indefinite strike from Monday,” Yadav told IANS.

The farmers claimed that their lands were taken over by the authority at a price of Rs2-3 per square yard and were not provided any rehabilitation.

The farmers of Sorkha, whose lands were acquired at Rs421 per square yard, demanded compensation of 50 per cent of the allotment rate.

“The CEO had agreed to return 850 acres of land that was under their possession to farmers. The authority had sanctioned Rs7 crore for a cement road around our village and approved Rs1 crore for a marriage community centre but no work has been done at all, so far,” Yadav said.