Meenakshi Sinha,TNN Jun 3, 2014, 03.41 AM IST

NOIDA: The Federation of Noida Residents’ Welfare Associations (FONRWA) on Monday protested the 10.5% hike in residential land prices by the Noida Authority.

N P Singh, president of FONRWA, said, “The land in Noida is either sold out or belongs to farmers. So what land does the authority propose to increase the prices of? When they don’t have land to sell or buy, they have no right to increase the rates. It’s just a ploy to make Noida an expensive city for homebuyers and make money at the expense of its residents,” said Singh.

According to Singh, the proposed increase will also affect transfer, registry and stamp duty charges, burning a bigger hole in the homebuyer’s pocket. “The common man is already burdened by buying a residential property. How will he arrange the funds to meet such an increase in property prices?” asked Singh.

His views were echoed by Noida industries since the authority also increased the rates of industrial land. “We are certainly not happy with the hike in industrial land rates,” said Vipin Malhan president, Noida Entrepreneurs’ Association.

Malhan said any entrepreneur first looks for cheap land to set up an industry and plans to invest in plant and machinery. “But if the land prices will not come cheap, then an entrepreneur will look for other places like Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, to set up industry,” he added.

The RWA umbrella body was also disappointed at the authority’s complete neglect and apathy towards their longstanding demands for freehold status of all residential properties in Noida, toll-free DND (Delhi-Noida-Driveway) and a representation of a minimum of two members from FONRWA in the authority. “Though we welcome the scheme for farmers and implementation of the UP Apartments’ Act to control the builder nexus, we as residents, are disappointed at the complete lack of interest of Noida Authority in our demands. They don’t want to meet us or even listen to us despite having promised to look into our demands,” said Suresh Tiwari, senior vice-president of FONRWA.

Singh said FONRWA members would hit the roads in protest. “We understand that we have to fight our own battles and we are ready for that,” said Singh.

Source: TOI

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