GREATER NOIDA, April 7 -- In preparation for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, residents of Greater Noida West gathered for a protest organised by the Noida Extension Flat Owner's Welfare Association (NEFOWA) on Sunday, highlighting their longstanding demands.
According to residents, the area faces numerous challenges, including the registration of unfinished flats, inadequate metro connectivity, poor cleanliness, defunct street lights, among others. "There are numerous problems in the area where nearly three lakhs people live. At the time of elections, the public representatives come but only make false promises. We feel cheated for several years now," said Vikas Pandey, a resident of Supertech Ecovillage-I in Greater Noida West.
Another resident pointed out that despite being developed nearly a decade ago, Greater Noida West still lacks basic amenities. "People who have been living here for years depend on their own transportation as there is no public transport in the area. Once the city bus service was introduced here which also stopped after sometime. There is no government hospital, school, or college in the area," said Vaibhav
Sharma, a resident of Cherry County society.
NEFOWA president Abhishek Kumar said that the fight for their rights will continue till they get better facilities. "A meeting was held and it was discussed among the residents to regularly take pictures of the problems like nearby road, electricity, drain, street light, horticulture etc. and send them to the authority officials keeping in loop the PMO and CM UP. It was also decided to meet the responsible officers on a regular basis," said Kumar.
The protesting residents also raised concerns about the rising school fees and declining education standards. They said that even after court's order to refund or adjust 15 per cent of the fees charged during the Covid pandemic period (2020-21), the private schools are not listening to them. "Most of the schools in the district are still acting arbitrarily on the issue of 15 per cent fees. Parents took the matter to the government and also held demonstrations but we feel abandoned," said Sukhpal Singh Toor, an education activist and parent.
Abhisht Gupta, another parent, echoed similar sentiments, noting that private schools owe an estimated Rs 200 crore in refunded or adjusted fees. "The district magistrate had earlier imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on 100 schools and there were even discussions to cancel their recognition but there is no change," said Gupta.
Meanwhile, a senior GNIDA officer said that the homebuyers' issues are taken up from time to time.
"The senior authority officials hold regular meetings with representatives of homebuyers and listen to their problems. The registry of stuck flats has been started in several societies and soon the number will increase. We will take up their issues in future as well," the officer said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.