Noida Extension projects can start now

In October 2011,the Allahabad High Court had allowed land acquisition in 61 villages in Noida and Greater Noida,with the condition that projects in Noida Extension must first get clearance from the NCRPB,without which all work must be suspended.

Officials said on Saturday that construction activities would be allowed to resume after an affidavit on the clearance was submitted to the Allahabad High Court. “The affidavit will be submitted in the next two days,but this is merely a formality. Construction can resume immediately. There is no restriction anymore,” a senior official said.

On Monday,the builders and the buyers met Greater Noida Authority CEO Rama Raman and discussed several issues.

Raman asked the builders to pay their dues to the Greater Noida Authority,so that development activities in the region could begin simultaneously.

“For the past year,the builders had stopped paying their instalments to the authority because of the uncertainty. Hopefully,if the builders pay up quickly,we can restart development in the region,which had also stopped because of the High Court order,” an official said.

While the 25 builders in the affected region owed the Greater Noida Authority close to Rs 20,000 crore as principal to be paid in eight years. The dues for the past year could be around Rs 1,500 crore.

The builders were assured that,as promised at the last general body meeting of the Greater Noida Authority,interest could be waved off for the period between October 21,2011 to August 24,2012. “In return,we asked the builders to charge zero per cent interest from the buyers for this period,” an official said.

Raman assured members of the Noida Extension Flat Owners Welfare Association that he had asked companies to immediately attend to the buyers,who had bought plots before the High Court judgment and thereafter not cancelled their allotment.

“We were assured that we would not face further problems such as home loans to facilitate payments,” Shweta Bharti,general secretary of the association,said.