Noida to expand city limits with six new sectors off expressway

NOIDA: The Noida Authority will extend its urban area by building six new sectors off the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway and has expedited work on acquiring land from villagers. It has constituted a taskforce to take over 362 acres for the proposed expansion.

Officials said though land needed to be acquired from six villages in total, the major chunk would come from Gulawali, Mohiyapur and Nalgarha. These villages would make way for sectors 160-166.

While sectors 162, 164 and165 would be dedicated for setting up industrial units, sector 161 has been earmarked for institutional purpose. Sectors 163 and 166 could see mixed-use development, with both commercial and residential buildings being allowed there. Some of these villages where land would be acquired now had already handed over plots to Noida for the setting up of sectors 156-159. For the new sectors (161-166), the Authority had started work on acquiring land last year itself, but the exercise suffered a setback during the pandemic.

In total, 539 acres had been identified for the six sectors. Last year, the Authority had managed to take over only 177 acres at the rate of Rs 5,060 per sqmt. “For the 362 acres that remain to be acquired, we have formed a special task force. They will interact with the farmers directly. We are handing out forms to the villagers so that they can sell their land directly to the Authority. We will start an online application process too,” said Santosh Upadhyay, officer on special duty who is in charge of the land department.

Officials in the planning department are now busy drawing up a list of amenities that need to be developed to make the sectors ready for allotment. The focus of these sectors will be to attract as much industry as possible with a slew of incentives. Apart from manufacturing units, the sector dedicated for institutional purpose will have IT or ITes facilities, government agencies, gas stations, religious or spiritual centres, hospitals, private institutes and so on.
Noida to expand city limits with six new sectors off expresswayLand acquisition in Noida has progressed in a staggered manner in most cases. Although the Land Acquisition Act allows authorities to take over plots directly from farmers, officials have faced stiff resistance in the past over compensation and other benefits.

Moreover, Gulawali, where a substantial portion of land needs to be acquired, has settlements on 173 acres.

This might delay the acquisition process as the authorities will also need to rehabilitate the villagers.