Noida: Farmhouse owners list 'rules' to oppose demolition drive

Noida: Farmhouse owners list ‘rules’ to oppose demolition drive

NOIDA: As many as 35 farmhouse owners have written to the Noida Authority, explaining why their properties along the Yamuna should not be demolished. The move is in keeping with an Allahabad high court order of June 14.

Hearing a bunch of petitions by farmhouse owners from Sector 135, the high court had directed the authority to maintain status quo for the next 20 days. The court had asked the petitioners to file their objections to the authority’s ongoing demolition drive in the first 10 days. It had also directed the authority to respond to the letters over the next 10 days.

Officials said on Tuesday they were examining the points the farmhouse owners had cited in their letters and would start replying to each of them from Wednesday. Most of the objections, they said, had been sent via email.

The officials, however, clarified that the drive against farmhouses on the floodplains would continue as usual. So far, 124 farmhouses, including three clubs, have been demolished by the authority. Noida has declared 1,000 farmhouses in the area illegal and announced they would be demolished.

A farmhouse owner said they were waiting for the authority’s reply to decide on their next action. “We have made our stand clear and hope the authority will see our cases rationally. We have not done any permanent construction here and are rather conserving the ecosystem,” he added.

The farmhouse owners pointed out to the authority that none of their properties could be dubbed illegal. They cited a 2016 notification issued by the Union ministry of water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation that clarified that construction was prohibited only on “active” floodplain areas.

“Our properties are not on the active floodplains. The area where they are built is a non-active zone,” one of the petitions read.

The petitioners also referred to a 2011 order of the high court, which prohibits construction within 500 metres of the highest flood level (HFL) of the Ganga in Prayagraj. They claimed their farmhouses were not on the highest flood level.

The letters also questioned Noida’s authority in carrying out the demolitions, saying that Nangla Nangli and its surrounding villages, where the maximum number of farmhouses are built, were not notified under the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Area Development Act.