Greater Noida authority decides to redevelop Kasna and Surajpur villages

The Greater Noida authority has decided to redevelop two of the city’s old villages –Kasna and Surajpur –whose residents are facing multiple issues such as bad roads, overflowing drains, sanitation problems and choked sewers, officials said Friday.

The authority’s chief executive officer Narendra Bhooshan inspected Kasna and Surajpur along with the staff and prepared a roadmap for the redevelopment of both villages on Friday.

“We have directed the staff to issue tenders to select an agency for the redevelopment project. We have a target to prepare a detailed project report in the next three months so that work can be started on the ground at the earliest,” said Bhooshan.

Officials said the authority will spend 100 crore on the redevelopment project–it has sanctioned a 50 crore budget for each village–which will include beautifying drains, developing green zones along storm water drains, renovating old historic buildings, constructing footpaths and roads, recreational zones and parks, among other services.

The authority has set a target to complete the redevelopment project by 2025.

Currently, Dadri Road in Surajpur, a key road,is in bad condition–there are overflowing drains–and residents of the areas around it face drinking water issues and other civic problems. Similarly, Kasna Road that connects Greater Noida’s Pari Chowk–the city’s busiest traffic junction–with Eastern Peripheral Expressway is completely encroached upon by vendors and parked auto-rickshaws. The authority has plans to beautify these two roads– Dadri Road and Kasna Road–with walkways and greenery after removing encroachments, said officials.

“The Greater Noida authority has made a lot of promises in the past with regard to development work in urban villages. But nothing has happened so far. We hope that the redevelopment plan is implemented as promised. These two villages face problems such as bad roads, overflowing sewers, improper sanitation and others,” said Praveen Bharatiya, founder-president of India Against Corruption, a citizens’ group in Greater Noida.

In 1992, Greater Noida was established by the Uttar Pradesh government to house industrial units in the region. The Gautam Budh Nagar’s district magistrate office, district court and police building all are located in Surajpur, around 25km from central Noida.