Farmers end 4-month protest as Noida gives roadmap on abadi land demands

Noida: A protest alike in style to the agitation against the central farm laws ended similarly on Thursday in victory for farmers who had been camping outside the offices of the

Noida Authority

for 122 days.

The Noida Authority agreed to some key demands of the protesting farmers, affiliated to Sukhvir Khalifa’s Bharatiya Kisan Parishad. Two of these demands — increasing

abadi land

regularisation from 450 square metres to 1,000 square metres and allowing commercial activity on abadi land — will be brought before the Noida Authority board.

The Authority is of the view that 250-300 farmers could benefit from the increased regularisation as 25 out of the 81 villages don’t have such claimants and in several other villages that do, the 450 sqm area criteria is not fulfilled. For commercial activity on abadi land, officials said a committee will be constituted whose findings can be taken up at a board meeting. Officials on Friday handed over a two-paper resolution, signed by the deputy collector (V), elaborating on the steps to be taken.

Abadi land refers to plots allotted to farmers as part of the compensation package for the land they gave to the Noida Authority. Farmers of 81 villages of Noida from whom land was acquired 1977 onwards, after the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (which gives Noida its name) was formed, were to receive 10% of the compensation as abadi plots. Later, the Authority offered 5% plots, saying the remaining 5% would go into development of roads, drainage, parks, etc.

Farmers contend that the land acquisition in the 81 villages was based on a land survey of 1932 and not a fresh one, arguing that along with their agricultural land, residential land too was acquired. After protests, in 2011, the Noida Authority came up with the Abadi Niyamawali 2011 through which it decided to lease back 450 sqm of abadi land to each farmer from whom land was acquired. The farmers, however, said that this was too small a plot size as most families had grown since the acquisition process and so have the properties (hence, the demand for regularisation).

The protesting farmers also allege many of them have not received these 5% plots. For such farmers, a survey will be initiated to identify land.

Sudhir Chauhan, one of the protesters at the forefront of the agitation, told TOI that while such commercial activity on abadi or leaseback land was allowed earlier, it had been recently stopped and the Noida Authority had been seeking charges from farmers.

The resolution says the Authority will apprise the board of this demand. “A committee headed by the ACEO will be constituted in this connection whose meeting will be called soon and the board will be apprised of the commercial activities and the updation,” says the document.

ACEO Praveen Mishra, who led the talks with the farmers, told TOI that an agency had been brought in for the survey to identify places where 5% plots can be provided to farmers. “The agency will see whether we have to form a separate cluster. The survey report is expected soon. Not every proposal is required to be brought before the board meeting. The same will be studied on a case to case basis and if the planning department wants, some cases may be brought before the board,” Mishra said.

The draft resolution says requests from farmers for 5% plots will be disposed of within six months.

The protesting farmers also want villages to be excluded from the ambit of the map policy. “These are traditional properties that have proliferated after families grew bigger. We wanted that the requirement for setbacks around the houses be done away with because the houses have come up adjacent to each other. Further, we demanded that the Authority should not consider the height of the parapet wall and mumty and they should be exempted from the rule specifying a 15-metre height bar,” Chauhan said.

The resolution mentions that the demand to measure the height of the property from the plinth level and not from the road level in villages will be “discussed.”

The contentious demand of 10% plots instead of 5% will be sent to the state government. The resolution says those farmers who took back their lawsuits following a public appeal by the Noida Authority in 2015 can submit a fresh application, which will be verified and subsequently sent to the state government for consideration.