27 more farmhouses on Yamuna floodplains razed by Noida authority

Twenty-seven illegally-built farmhouses that had come up in an area of 15 hectares on the Yamuna floodplains were demolished by the Noida authority on Saturday, officials said. The cost of the land where the demolishing exercise was carried out is around 60 crore, they added.

The demolition drive was carried out on the instructions of Ritu Maheshwari, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Noida authority as part of its anti-encroachment campaign in the ecologically-sensitive area along the river. The entire exercise was carried out in the presence of heavy police deployment in villages such as Nagli Nagla and Nagli Wajidpur, located in Sector 135.

“Officials of the land revenue department and irrigation department along with Noida authority officials were also present during the demolition drive, which started at 9am on Saturday,” an official statement from the authority said.

Noida authority’s officer-on-special duty (land) Prasun Dwivedi said, “Legal action is being taken against the offenders. More such illegal constructions are being identified in the area and will be razed soon”.

Earlier on June 8, the Noida authority razed 15 illegal farmhouses that had come up in violation of norms on the Yamuna floodplains. Prior to that 62 such structures were demolished on June 1, Dwivedi added.

The Noida authority CEO also directed the officers to take effective action by running a campaign to demolish unauthorised and illegal constructions on the Yamuna riverbed and government notified areas.