The Noida Authority on Thursday decided to award 5 per cent of the acquired land to farmers whose land was taken over after March 1997. Those whose land was acquired before 1997 will get plots of 160 square metres each under the new scheme which has earmarked 1,000 such plots. This was decided at a board meeting called after farmers protested against the land acquisition policy and the compensation they were awarded. A list of 15 villages where 5% land will be returned will be released by August 31. "There are many farmers whose land was acquired before 1997 and whom we have not been able to give their share of 17.5% in the residential schemes of the Authority. We have come up with a scheme where 160 sq mt plots in Sector 151 will be given at subsidised rates to farmers. There are 750 plots which will be given at the rate of Rs 17,820 per sq mt to farmers whose land was acquired before March 1997," said Balwinder Kumar,Chairman-cum-CEO of Noida Authority. The remaining 250 plots are in other sectors under different schemes. The Authority also decided that it would withdraw cases against farmers who have been given respite by the Allahabad High Court. "There are 1,200 such cases. We will withdraw those cases and will approach farmers for out-of-court settlement. A high-level committee has also been formed to study such cases. If we get the farmers to agree,we will have to spend Rs 572 crore on compensation," Kumar said. The board decided to extend the period for construction on the 5% allotted plot from two to three years. The allottee will not have to pay any penalty in that period even if he does not build the boundary and the gate,but simply gets the map approved. To relocate the slums of Sectors 4,5,6,9 and 10,the Authority has come up with a scheme under which slum-dwellers will be given two-room flats in the first phase in Sector 122. "We will allot 3,472 flats for slum-dwellers and instead of individual draws,there will be a group draw so that we are able to shift the entire slum and take charge of the land," Kumar said. The cost of the flat will be Rs 5.80 lakh. The next phase will cover Sectors 11,16,17,18,31,44. Noida land cases to be heard on Aug 29 Allahabd: The three-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court,specially constituted to hear the land acquisition cases of Noida and Greater Noida,will take up the matter on August 29. The bench was constituted after a division bench of the high court had referred the matters pertaining to land acquisition to a larger bench on July 26. After the bench was constituted initially,Justice R K Agarwal,who was heading it,recused himself from the matter as his son was representing one of the builders impleading to become a party in the matter. Subsequently,Justice S U Khan replaced Justice Agarwal. The other two judges on the bench are Justices V K Shukla and Ashok Bhushan. The division bench headed by Justice Amitava Lala had referred the matter to the larger bench after it was pointed by the state that another bench of the same court had upheld land acquisition using the urgency clause in 2008 in the case of Patwari village. However,a bench led by Justice Sunil Ambwani had quashed the land acquisition in Patwari village on July 19. ENS
