GNIDA and Patwari Village Farmers at Odds Over Noida Extension Land Acquisition
With an 11-day deadline looming for the Uttar Pradesh government to negotiate an out-of-court settlement with Noida Extension farmers, the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) has intensified discussions, but to no avail. Talks between the authority and farmers from Patwari village have reached an impasse over the matter of compensation, prompted by successive court rulings overturning forced land acquisitions. This leaves the future of 100,000 homes in Noida Extension hanging precariously.
GNIDA CEO Rama Raman encountered a disgruntled assembly of farmers who asserted that further dialogue was pointless unless the authority reconsidered its compensation offer. They further alleged that the GNIDA was attempting to fracture the collective resistance against land acquisition by selectively offering rehabilitation packages and other incentives to certain farmers.
"If the authority cannot increase the compensation, then there is no point of holding this discussion," a farmer leader proclaimed. The farmers also raised concerns about what they perceived as a "divide and rule" tactic by the authority. They pointed to instances where land belonging to influential farmers has been retained while others faced acquisition, thus weakening the collective bargaining power of the farming community. The farmer leader explicitly stated that an out-of-court resolution was unattainable without a revised compensation package.
In response to the accusations, the CEO assured that four bighas of land owned by the village head would be regularized rather than designated as an encroachment. This was a significant point of contention for the farmers.
Negotiations between the GNIDA and the Patwari village farmers reached a standstill over the compensation issue. The authority's proposal involves acquiring the land under the new acquisition and rehabilitation policy, which offers farmers larger developed land plots, an additional ₹200 per square meter in cash compensation, plus annuity payments. However, this offer was deemed insufficient by the farmers demanding enhanced terms.
The farmers' resistance to the existing compensation offer underscores the ongoing tension between development goals and the rights of landowners, adding another layer of complexity to the Noida Extension saga.