Irate villagers demand dues,development for votes

They fume at the Greater Noida Authority for destroying their standing crop and are yet to receive full payment for their land acquired by the administration.

Ghodi Bacheda village lost six people to police firing over the land acquisition issue. It is still entangled,after eight months of conflict with the district police,in the same row with the Greater Noida Authority.

The fields of Sunder Netaji’s brother,a farmer from Ghodi Bacheda,are lined with soil and other construction material dumped by the Authority.

“The Authority has already acquired the land but payment of Rs 20 lakh is still pending. We were not reluctant to give away our lands which they had acquired already. What pains us most is that they destroyed our standing crop. We had asked them to wait for just 15 days so that we could reap our crops,but they covered half the field with soil and destroyed our crops,” said Sunder.

Indraraj Singh,whose 60 acres were acquired by the government to construct roads and other projects,is yet to receive Rs 1.4 crore from the administration.

“We never wanted to give away our lands at cheap rates to the government,as we knew they were not planning any infrastructure for social welfare but had to. This government has cheated us,” said Singh.

Singh and Sunder,however,are not the only farmers who have not received full compensation for their land.

The Greater Noida Authority owes Ram Krishan Rs 36,20,000.

Santosh Devi too is waiting to get Rs 1 crore from the Authority.

“Our village still has kuchcha roads and there is no development. We have been neglected for long. Now,whoever asks for votes will have to assure us of development,” said Omkar Bhati,an advocate in the village.

Lalit Srivastava,chairman of the Greater Noida Authority,said the villagers were being greedy even after receiving payment.

“We acquired the land in 2006,which means we have every right over the land. The crop was sown in the previous season. The Authority needs the land now,so we spread soil on the fields that legally belongs to it,” added Srivastava.