Noida: Farmhouse owners submit objections to demolitions

NOIDA: Owners of farmhouses in Sector 135 have started filing their objections to the Noida
Authority’s decision to demolish these structures on the ground that they have been built on the
Yamuna and Hindon floodplains.
The owners cited various high court orders and rules to drive home the point that these
farmhouses were not illegal. Allahabad high court has ordered a status quo on the demolition
drive and asked the owners to submit their objections. The Noida Authority will go through the
objections before taking a call.
In their petitions, the farmhouse owners cited a 2016 notification issued by the ministry of water
resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation, which prohibits any kind of construction
only on “active” floodplains.

The owners claimed that the area on which their farmhouses were located were not “active”
floodplains.
The state government, they said, has not notified the floodplain area and its limits in the official
gazette in keeping with the Northern Indian Canal and Drainage Act.
“No presumption can be drawn that the area in question falls therein. Be that as it may. The
restriction of construction is in an active flood plain area,” one of the petitions read.
The owners also cited a 2011 high court order, which prohibits construction within 500 metres of
the highest flood level (HFL) of the Ganga in Prayagraj city. The petitioners claimed that the
constructions were far from the specified distances.
The owners also questioned the Noida Authority’s jurisdiction over the Nangla Nangli area,
where it is carrying out demolitions.
There is no such notification produced or available on record. A suit was filed in a civil court in
1997 over the notification of Nangli Nangli village and two years later, the court passed an
injunction restraining the authority from interfering in the possession and carrying out
development activity.