Ghaziabad: Farmers to get back over 3,400 acres of land at NH-9
The Uttar Pradesh government has kickstarted the process to denotify a large land area that was earmarked for a township’s development. This will pave the way for the land to be returned to the farmers. It has been an uphill battle for these farmers in 22 villages of Ghaziabad as they have waited for the acquisition of their notified land for 17 years. Now, if the denotification is approved, they would be able to sell their land to other parties or keep it for self-use.
Over 17 years after a large swathe of land was notified for Hi-tech townships near National Highway-9 in Ghaziabad, the administration is all set to denotify 3484 acres of land. This land was supposed to be acquired by a private developer, but the builder could not buy it, and the process has been in limbo ever since. The farmers whose land was notified have been stuck as they can’t sell their land to anyone else due to the government order.
Hi-tech township policy
In 2005, the Uttar Pradesh government notified 8,700 acres of land in Ghaziabad for developing residences in Hi-tech townships. The authorities set a target of building two lakh homes. Private builders Wave Group and Sun City were roped in to acquire 4400 acres of land each to build these townships.
The land acquisition process
Although land notification was announced in 2005, the actual process to acquire it began only in 2009-2010. Wave Group, on its part, was successful in buying 4100 acres of land out of its share of 4400 acres. However, Sun City was able to buy only 828 acres. The developer cited the reluctance of farmers to sell the land and demand for increased compensation as reasons for not being able to buy the rest of the earmarked land.
Farmers in dilemma
Farmers from over 22 villages have been in a dilemma as their land has neither been acquired nor denotified. When land is marked for specific use by the government, they can only sell the land as per laid norms. So, in this case, if the developer has not bought their land, they are stuck as they cannot sell it to another party.
Disturbed by this fact, they launched agitations and even knocked on the doors of the Allahabad High Court, which in 2019 asked the government to resolve the issue in three months.
The denotification process
Sun City has submitted a detailed report to the government to develop 828 acres of land it has acquired. Now since the township plan covers just 828 acres, the rest can be denotified by the government.
Once the government approves the new township plan submitted by Sun City, it will pave the way for the denotification of the rest of the land, which would be returned to farmers. Farmers will then be able to enjoy complete autonomy and ownership of their land.
