The bustling atmosphere of last-minute campaigning is noticeably absent in Ranhera village, one of the seven constituencies in Uttar Pradesh that will go to polls on Friday. Instead, a sense of impending dislocation hangs heavy in the air as locals gather around a banyan tree in the village’s central choupal (community space).
“We have grown up playing around this tree, so have our fathers and grandfathers,” says Neeraj Kumar, a 35-year-old villager, as children scamper about. Ranhera village is soon to be subsumed by the Noida International Airport, and its residents have decided to boycott the Lok Sabha poll in protest.
“Humara poora gav uthega … (Our entire village will be uprooted),” says Kumar, pointing to a concrete wall that separates their village from the under-construction airport, scheduled to start operations from September this year. The authorities plan to relocate the 4,700-odd population to two plots, near the proposed International Film City and the airport, also known as Jewar.
The villagers’ fears are twofold. One, they fear losing their livelihoods after the land is acquired by the authorities. The other concern is that the promised plots after relocation will be half the size of their existing ones.
“We are giving up our homes, our farmland. We deserve better. They say that since it [the area where they would be relocated] is developed, we will get smaller plots. The least we should get is the assured employment and bigger plots,” says Hinder Singh, a 45-year-old farmer.
A total of 1,149 villages in Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura and Agra districts have been notified as areas under the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA). The Draft Master Plan-2041 prepared by YEIDA envisages a sustainable, efficient, well-connected and globally recognised city coming up around the airport.
Farmers whose land is acquired are entitled to benefits such as reservation in schools and colleges for their children at a reasonable fee, preference in jobs and compensation for land. However, Singh’s despondency stems from conversations with erstwhile neighbours from six adjoining villages who have already been relocated to a new colony a few kilometres from the airport site.
“Most of them are struggling to find jobs.”
“Those from other villages were promised permanent jobs in and around the airport but most of them are still jobless, forced to work as daily wagers. They line up at labour chowks daily for work,” says Kalu Singh, who worked as a farm hand earlier.
