Greater Noida to renew farm land allotment rules

Amid allegations of irregular and lack of transparency in allotting land to farmers, the Greater Noida authority has decided to revise the rules and compile records of eligible farmers to streamline the process, officials said on Sunday.

According to land allotment rules, the authority allots 4 to 6% land for residential use against the total land acquired from farmers for development works in the city in an alphabetical order.

However, the new rules will now ensure that allotment will take place on the basis of the date farmers’ land was acquired.

“Earlier we used to allot the plots on the basis of alphabetical order. The fault with this system was that someone whose name begins with the letter A used to get the plot even if his land was acquired recently, while someone whose name begins with Y gets the plot later even if his land was acquired in the first lot. Therefore, we are making a list of farmers on the basis of the date when the land was acquired,” said Amandeep Duli, additional chief executive officer, Greater Noida authority.

In case of there being multiple farmers whose land was acquired on the same date, the new rules will enlist them on the basis of submission of their applications for land allotment, the official added.

Further, the land will now be allotted in areas near farmers’ villages, officials, said — a change that comes after farmers’ demand of a uniform policy to allot them a plot in a sector of their choice in the city.

“Earlier, the planning and the land department used to exercise discretion to allot the plot in any sector of the city. But now the farmers will get these plots only in the sector located adjoining to their village. If there is no land left near their village, then the plot will be allotted within a 3km radius of the particular village,” said Duli..

“The authority must prepare and publish the names in a list of all eligible farmers and invite objections so that any error can be rectified,” said Arun Yadav a farmer from Eteda village.

Meanwhile, farmers alleged that around 6,000 farmers from 39 villages were yet to get a residential plots.