GREATER NOIDA: Mayawati’s rally seemed like any other political campaign, but there was difference noticed by those who participated in it. Unlike other poll rallies, not just the Uttar Pradesh police, but even the security cadre of the BSP was actively involved in making sure that no harm came to behenji. While frisking and use of metal detectors is a common thing, the security staff did not allow anyone wearing black garments – sweaters, shawls, mufflers, jackets, scarves – to enter the Knowledge Park-II ground to prevent people from showing black banners to the chief minister.

The BSP cadre had made sure that Maya’s rally was well attended. People like 80-year-old Rashidan, who did not have any idea of the poll date nor the BSP party symbol, were ferried from their villages early in the morning by party workers to make the campaign a success. “I am here just to have a glimpse of our beloved Behenji,” said Rashidan. “I have been asked to cast my vote for Behenji. The party workers will help me do it,” she said.

However, not all present were unaware like the octogenarian. In addition to those ferried by party workers, there were also several hundreds of villagers who had come on their own driven by the sheer charisma of Mayawati. “I know my vote will make a difference. In the days of the SP rule, law & order was at an all-time low. The lower castes were being trodden over by the ruling elite. Things changed with Mayawati taking over the reins,” said 70-year-old Munnalal of Roja Jalalpur village.

“Behenji gave us shelter over our heads. We have been allotted houses under housing schemes,” said 65-year-old Allauddin, who rode pillion on a motorbike to the rally site from a distance of around 40km.

Young men in droves, sporting BSP caps, also made a huge pitch at the rally ground raising banners and shouting slogans in support of Mayawati and her mentor Kanshiram. The youth were proud that the district has turned into an educational hub during Mayawati’s tenure. “Look at the numerous schools and colleges around. None of these had been built by the SP or the Congress,” said 20-year-old Yogesh from Baraundi village.

Women supporters, who claimed that they have been more secure under Mayawati than under any other regime, also pledged their absolute support for the BSP. “Behenji has made us proud. She has done a lot for the women in the state unlike the SP or the Congress,” said Lalita Gautam from Ghodi village in Greater Noida.
Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2012
Vandana Keelor & Ayaskant DasVandana Keelor & Ayaskant Das, TNN | Feb 23, 2012, 01.19AM IST

A section of voters and representatives of UP’s three main opposition parties — BJP, SP and Congress — are on the same page regarding the need to bring in public participation in the Noida authority board. Speakers and participants at HT’s Noida First conclave said public representation was a must in a body that decides policy matters and clears development projects for the city. The conclave was held to bring candidates of all major political parties together ahead of the Assembly elections and discuss how to realise Noida’s true potential.

Noida Board has been an all-bureaucrat board. RWA representatives said though projects worth thousands of crores were executed, there was no accountability.

“We have been demanding the representation of RWAs for years. The authority does not pay attention to our demands and suggestions on civic issues,” said Munna K Sharma, sector 71 RWA president.

“Not only RWAs and MLAs, even village panchayat heads also should be members in the board because villagers have a major stake in this city,” said Dalbir Yadav, who represented Noida Samajwadi Party candidate Sunil Chaudhary at the conclave.

“If our party forms the next state government, we will change the way the authority board functions,” said Dr VS Chauhan, Congress candidate from Noida.

BJP candidate Dr Mahesh Sharma replied, “MLA’s job is to raise issues related to people. If I get elected I will work towards democratisation of the authority board and also ensure plots in Noida are allotted on free-hold basis on not on lease.”

A safe tomorrow

For the BSP — bijli (electricity), sadak (road) and paani (water) — factor often reigns supreme in elections, but in the context of Noida, ‘s’ stands for ‘suraksha (security) and not sadak.”

Hindustan Times on Monday provided an interface between the candidates of important political parties — BJP, Congress and Samajwadi Party (BSP candidate Om Datt Sharma could not make it and SP candidate sent his representative) — and voters of the city.

A fairly large gathering comprising representatives of RWAs, working professionals, industrialists, retired defence personnel and even schoolchildren asked some tough questions and the three politicians, after initially getting into ‘political squabbling’ with each other, spelt out their vision for the city.

Mahesh Sharma (BJP), VS Chauhan (Congress) and Dalvir Yadav (SP) admitted there was a change in the political atmosphere Noida had become an assembly seat, and an urban one at that, for the first time.
HT Correspondent , Hindustan Times
Noida, February 21, 2012

NOIDA: With commercial units getting two months to shut operation from residential plots in Noida after the Supreme Court order of December 5, the Noida Authority is working on introducing new mixed use schemes for vacant plots in various sectors of the city.  The Authority has also called for a meeting of all its project engineers on Friday to “explore the possibility of constructing more floors” in existing market areas.  “All project engineers have been directed to inform us of vacant commercial spaces in areas under their respective jurisdiction. The two most viable options present before the Authority now are to a upgrade and utilize available vacant commercial spaces and to increase the FAR of some market areas,” an official said.  The Authority is also exploring more “long-term solutions” by making room for mixed land use in some cases in the Master Plan.  The Authority now plans to launch mixed use schemes for 200-300 sqm vacant plots “located along wide roads, not falling between houses and residential plots” to facilitate public conveniences in the vicinity of residential areas. Such a scheme will be launched for vacant plots in all areas, including residential and industrial.  “The plots that we will identify will have their land use as mixed right from the beginning. Hence, the Authority will not be changing land use, and, thus, the same will not be in violation of the court order,” said chief town planner Rajpal Kaushik. “Mixed-use plots will help people a great deal. The rates for these mixed land use plots will vary depending on their location,” he added.  With the current Master Plan of Noida not providing for any commercial use of residential plots, the Supreme Court had pulled up the Noida for brazenly allowing banks, nursing homes and medical clinics to come up on a large scale in residential areas.  The Court criticized the Authority for making amendments in the land use through executive orders and notifications, which defeated the object of development.

TNN Dec 9, 2011, 04.29AM IST

Officials of the Enforcement Department of the Noida Authority (NA) swooped down on encroachers on government land in Sector 67. NA officials were accompanied by the district police. A dozen bulldozers were pressed into service to demolish the illegal shops that had been constructed here.
40 acres of land has been cleared 1 junior engineer has been suspended for allowing the encroachment 16 people against whom FIR has been registered 4 persons have been arrested in this connection capt sk dwivedi, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, NA This land is worth Rs 1,000 crore and has been earmarked for a warehousing depot. The land mafia was very active here. Several persons had constructed pucca structures here. We will not tolerate any kind of encroachment on public land in the city. No encroacher will be spared.

From HT Live Noida dt. 17th, February, 2012

ARE WE PREPARED? Expect traffic blocks on most city roads between 11.30am and 1pm ( )

The drill will help us prepare better in case of any disaster and will also make citizens aware about the dos and don’ts in case of any disaster.

Be prepared to get stuck at Metro stations and several major roads in the Capital on Wednesday as Metro services will be shut for half an hour from 11:30am due the mega mock drill that will be conducted at 400 locations across Delhi.

Expect traffic diversions and congestions on almost major Delhi roads, including the Ring Road between 11:30am and 1pm due to the mock drill being carried out by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) to check the city’s preparedness in dealing with disaster situations.

Though the drill will be conducted at six major Metro stations, the services will remain suspended on the entire 190-km Metro network till the drill is completed. Metro services will restart after 12 noon. A mock drill, enacting a Kingfisher plane on fire, will also be conducted at the Terminal 2 of the IGI airport.

To check the preparedness of various agencies, including the fire brigade, Delhi Police and ambulance services, the DDMA, along with the National Disaster Management Authority is going to organise the first-of-its-kind mega mock drill in the Capital.

“The drill will help us prepare better in case of any disaster and will also make citizens aware about the dos and don’ts in case of any disaster, including terror attacks,“ said Vijay Dev, secretary (revenue), DDMA.

In the run-up to the drill, more than 100 mock drills in all districts of the Capital had been organised in the first week of February. The DDMA is sending bulk messages to three crore mobile subscriber in Delhi.

For the mock drill, an earthquake situation will be enacted which will lead to Metro disrup-tions, traffic collisions, building collapses, fire incidents and CNG pumps leakage.

HT Correspondent htreporters@hindustantimes.com

In order to promote wildlife, the Noida authority has renamed the Amity University Metro station, one of the two stations on the proposed Noida-Kalindi Kunj line. The station will now be named after the Okhla Bird Sanctuary. “Changing the name is not a big deal. We have already told DMRC to mention the new name in its detailed project report (DPR),” said CB Singh, deputy chief executive officer, Noida authority. DMRC officials said it was entirely the authority’s prerogative to decide name. “We have renamed the station,” said an official.

The district forest department feels the move will help in sanctuary’s promotion and increase the number of visitors
Hindustan Times, dt. 15th, Feb, 2012

The Prime Minister’s Office on Tuesday stepped in to ensure that there is no further delay in implementing the ambitious project to complete a ring road around Delhi. The road will let nearly 2 lakh vehicles skip the Capital every day and help ease traffic congestion. Hindustan Times had on Febraury 10 reported how the 135-km Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) – half of the 270-km road around Delhi -had failed to take off because of bureaucratic indecisiveness. The road was first approved by the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) way back in 2007.

Along with the Western Peripheral Expressway (WPE), which is being implemented by the Haryana government and is nearing completion, the eastern expressway would have completed the ring road and provided an alternative route to inter-state traffic not bound for Delhi and helped decongest city roads.

At a meeting chaired by principal secretary to the Prime Minister Pulok Chatterjee on Tuesday, it was decided that the EPE proposal would be placed before the Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) for clearance next week.

AK Upadhyay, road secretary, Sudha Pillai, member secretary, Planning Commission and R Gopalan, secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, attended the meeting among others.

“The EPE proposal would be placed before the CCI meeting scheduled next week for approval,” said an official.

The project has been held up since 2007 as the government had been unable to decide how much commuters should pay for using this stretch.

But now the Centre seems to have agreed to the road ministry’s stand to charge toll tax 50% more than rates charged on other national highways and the WPE.

The road ministry had earlier wanted toll rates of bypass roads – 1.5 times more than what is charged on national highways. Their argument: the EPE is a bypass, not a highway.

The move to levy more toll had invited criticism from some senior panel officials and the Finance Ministry on the grounds that it would go against “public interest” and make the project “unviable” vis-à-vis WPE.

Moushumi Das Gupta, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, February 15, 2012