The Supreme Court judgment on Shahberi village in Noida Extension was the beginning of the end of the proposed township. Now the dominos have started falling and it looks like the pack of cards will fall apart next Tuesday, July 26.
Facts speak for themselves. Compared to the 1,700 hectares spread across seven villages whose fate will be decided next Tuesday, Shahberi’s 156 hectares looks like a blip. Patwari’s 589 hectares too, looks pale in comparison to the combined claim of Hebatpur, Bisrakh, Itteheda, Ghanola, Mancha, Devna and Roja-Yakubpur villages.
The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday, July 20, deferred the land acquisition matter of Roza-Yakubpur village to July 26.
Meanwhile, investors have decided not to wait around, and have thrown in the gauntlet. The Noida Extension Flat Buyers’ Welfare Association has moved the Allahabad High Court, pleading that they be made a party to the cases.
“We have filed six petitions today in relation to the cases that were to be heard. We will be filing more petitions on Thursday, July 21, in connection with the cases listed for the day. We want our arguments to be heard,” said G.L. Sagar, Secretary of the NEFBWA. A team of office bearers of the newly-formed but yet-unregistered organisation is camping in Allahabad to review the progress in the case.
The builders, who have been insisting that their brainchild is safe, and that Noida Extension remains a reality beyond the boundaries of Shahberi, have suddenly begun to sing a different tune.
“We are looking at resolving issues in individual villages, but as an organisation, we are now looking at the bigger picture. We are trying to evolve a larger formula to the problem. The whole of Noida Extension will now have to be considered,” said Anil Sharma, Vice-President of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Associations of India (CREDAI), National Capital Region Chapter. Sharma is also the Chairman & Managing Director of the Amrapali Group that has been affected the worst in the area.
Amrapali, along with Supertech, is one of the worst-hit, as they have multiple projects planned in the locality.
Sharma also said that the various member associations are consulting their lawyers on the way forward.
“The Shahberi verdict was unprecedented, as acquisitions have generally gone in favour of development in the past. We are in talks with the Authority for a solution to all the problems,” said Sharma.
Even as the under-construction buildings begin to give the impression of looking like stacked-up dominos ready for a grand fall, the farmers in the affected villages are gearing up to laugh their way to the bank.
At the same time, the leaders of the Kisan Sangarsh Samiti are quick to extend an olive branch to the builders.
“We are not against development. We just want to be taken into confidence before they decide on land rates,” said the former Pradhan of Patwari village, Balraj Yadav.
