Farmers Across Villages Confront Authority Over Land Titles and Basic Civic Utilities

Farmers Across Villages Confront Authority Over Land Titles and Basic Civic Utilities

Tensions between local agricultural communities and industrial development administrators have flared once again across Gautam Buddh Nagar as farmers hailing from 81 rural villages of Noida convened a massive congregation in village Sarfabad to register fierce opposition against the Noida Development Authority. Organized under the banner of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangathan, the assembly addressed the growing administrative labeling of ancestral villagers as "illegal encroachers" on lands their families have inhabited for generations. Presided over by community leader Pappu Pehlwan, the mahapanchayat condemned the authority's hostile stance, questioning how native inhabitants who never received due acquisition compensation or surrendered physical possession can be branded trespassers on their own soil while being denied fundamental civic necessities like legal sewer and piped drinking water connections.

Flawed Revenue Records: District Administration Transferred Titles Without Paying Compensation

Addressing the gathering, Bharatiya Kisan Sangathan National President Rajendra Yadav dissected the root administrative failure driving the land crisis across the NCR belt:

  • No Direct Transfer to Authority: Yadav pointed out that native farmers never entered into direct land surrender deeds or private sale agreements with the Noida Authority; instead, agricultural records were processed by the Gautam Buddh Nagar district administration, which subsequently reassigned revenue titles to the authority.

  • Unpaid Dues and Continued Possession: A substantial portion of villagers remain in uninterrupted, physical possession of their ancestral holdings because the district administration failed to disburse complete statutory financial compensation.

  • Arbitrary Deletion of Ownership: Rather than rectifying pending compensations, revenue clerks arbitrarily expunged the original farmers' names from revenue registers and entered the Noida Authority's title, creating paper ownership while ground realities remained unchanged.

  • Misdirected Administrative Hostility: Kisan leaders demanded that the Noida Authority direct its legal enforcement toward negligent district revenue officials rather than serving eviction and encroachment notices to resident farmers.

The Fight for Basic Amenities: Demand for Permanent Sewer and Piped Water Camps

The denial of basic municipal infrastructure to native rural abadi zones within Noida's urban sprawl emerged as a central flashpoint during the deliberations:

  • Arbitrary Municipal Denial: Metropolitan President Deepu Yadav questioned the rationale behind withholding official utility connections, emphasizing that while primary trunk lines for drinking water and subterranean drainage run directly adjacent to village perimeters, local families are blocked from securing legitimate household lines.

  • Call for On-Site Registration Camps: The farmer union called on the Noida Authority to immediately halt punitive drives and instead organize localized administrative facilitation camps across all 81 villages to issue authorized, permanent water and sewer meters.

  • Civic Parity with Urban Sectors: Resident representatives stressed that while high-rise commercial sectors and gated residential societies enjoy uninterrupted municipal utility networks, ancestral villages that gave up land for modern Noida are subjected to systemic infrastructural neglect.

'Abadi' Settlement Campaign: Farmers Vow Indefinite Agitation for Ownership Rights

The assembly concluded with a unified resolution to intensify protests until ancestral living areas (abadi) are permanently demarcated and formalized:

  • Ending the 'Encroacher' Stigma: Speaking for village youth and residents, farmer Gajendra reiterated that the soil belongs inherently to the native lineages who cleared and settled it centuries before urban planning agencies existed, affirming that calling original owners encroachers is an intolerable insult.

  • Focus on Population Regularization: Leaders asserted that resolving village boundary disputes requires expediting comprehensive rural population surveys and regularizing extended family homes on an "as-is, where-is" basis.

  • Widespread Community Representation: Prominent village elders and farmer representatives who pledged their backing to the ongoing agitation included Adesh Yadav Pehlada, Gajendra Yadav, Mukesh Yadav, Mastram Yadav, KP Singh, Former Pradhan Pintu Pehlwan, Pappu Yadav, Rakesh Yadav, and Rahul Yadav.

  • Indefinite Agitation Warning: The Bharatiya Kisan Sangathan declared that demonstrations, sit-ins, and legal challenges will continue unabated until every family in the 81 affected villages secures undisputed, certified title deeds for their residential homes.