NOIDA: Teams of Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) and the district administration on Monday demolished 25 illegal buildings in Ramner, Sabauta, and Kishorepur villages of Jewar tehsil to prevent further encroachments that could delay expansion of the Noida International Airport.
Officials carried out a four-hour drive, targeting illegal houses and permanent structures on land notified for acquisition for the airport’s third and fourth phases.
Officials said they had earlier warned over 100 landowners against carrying out further constructions once the area was notified for acquisition.
Although the Yamuna Authority issued demolition orders, many villagers continued with the constructions, prompting the demolition drive.
For the third and fourth phases of the airport project, 2,053 hectares are scheduled to be acquired from 14 villages. This acquisition will affect around 42,000 farmers, with about 9,500 of them requiring rehabilitation. Although the administration has secured consent from most affected families, some villagers have carried out fresh constructions to obtain higher compensation for these permanent structures.
Farmers, officials said, are eligible for additional funds if houses or other permanent edifices stand on their land at the time of acquisition. As a result, landowners built new structures after the notification, leading the administration to form special monitoring teams that identified and halted unauthorised work.
So far, the state govt has acquired 1,334 hectares for the first phase of the airport project and 1,365 hectares for the second. Compensation has also been distributed among affected families.
On Monday, more than 100 policemen accompanied YEIDA and district officials to the villages where these illegal buildings have come up. The team deployed 11 earthmovers from 2pm onwards, completing the demolition in four hours without any major protests.
According to inspection reports, unauthorised structures have also come up in Neemka, Thora, Banwari Bas, Mukimpur Shivara, Kishorepur, and Ramner villages. YEIDA has issued fresh warnings to landowners and will soon clear an estimated 200 additional illegal constructions in the area, officials said.
