New Delhi: Industry body Assocham on Tuesday
urged the Centre to help resolve the dispute between farmers
and Noida authority over land acquisition.
"As more farmers move the court against acquisition of
their land in Noida," the chamber urged the Central Government
"to take initiative and evolve a consensus among all
stakeholders".
It said it has received a large number of representations
from property developers, city experts and home buyers in
Greater Noida and Noida Extension.
The issue is getting politicised and may cast a shadow
over rapid urbanisation in the region, it added.
"We believe there is a first rate crisis in urban
development for the Centre and State (Uttar Pradesh)
government. It must be resolved amicably at the earliest,"
Chamber's secretary general DS Rawat said.
He said that with the new land acquisition bill yet to be
introduced in Parliament, there was widespread lack of
confidence among developers to build new townships.
Financial institutions will be reluctant to advance loans
if the uncertainty continues, Rawat added.
While seeking early resolution of the crisis, Assocham
said interests of home buyers in Greater Noida and Noida
Extension must be protected at all costs.
Besides, it said, farmers must be adequately compensated
when their land is acquired.
On July 6, the Supreme Court had upheld the Allahabad
High Court's order to quash the acquisition of 156 hectare
from farmers in the Shahberi village of Greater Noida.
Last week, the High Court passed another order quashing
the acquisitions of 589.13 hectares acquired from farmers.
The Noida Extension area is spread over 4,000 acres and
an estimated 2.5 lakh houses are being built there. Out of
this, about 1 lakh units have already been sold by builders.
Meanwhile, all petitions challenging land acquisition in
Noida and Greater Noida areas were today referred to the Chief
Justice of Allahabad High Court by a division bench with the
request that a larger bench be constituted to decide the
matter.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, July 26, 2011, 21:39