Transforming Noida and Greater Noida: Challenges before the new DM
In the run up to the 2027 assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, the people of Gautam Buddha Nagar have a big wish list for the district’s development. An exclusive report by Amartya Sinha
On July 30, 2025, Delhi’s neighbouring district in the NCR region- Gautam Buddha Nagar witnessed a golden moment in its administrative history. The first ever female District Magistrate (DM) – Medha Roopam took over charge from Manish Kumar Verma at the Collectorate office at Surajpur in Greater Noida. For the first time since the formation of the district in 1997, Gautam Buddha Nagar was blessed with a talented woman officer at the helm of affairs. Medha Roopam has been the victim of blatant and unnecessary trolling by a bunch of opposition leaders since the conclusion of Election Commission of India’s SIR (Special Intensive Revision) exercise in Bihar, just because she is the daughter of Gyanesh Kumar – the current Chief Election Commissioner of India. But what these half-educated shills (politicians) often forget is that Medha secured all-India tenth rank in the 2014 UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) examination with her hard work and sheer dedication. But for becoming a politician, one doesn’t need to qualify any test comparable to the UPSC civil services examination which is considered as one of the toughest to crack in the world.
She is qualified with a graduation degree from the prestigious St. Stephens College under Delhi University. Unlike the opposition leaders who feed and grow upon a largesse generated by their ancestors, a multitalented Medha- a former national-level rifle shooter made her way up to the top, aided by her brilliance and the right intent. If multiple members of a same family are civil servants, that might imply that the family’s members are inclined towards academic excellence and national service since many generations rather than caste-based dynastic nepotism aided by crony capitalism and corruption usually seen among opposition politicians. Moreover, Medha has had prior administrative experience in Gautam Buddha Nagar district as the served as the ACEO (Assistant Chief Executive Officer) of GNIDA from February 21, 2023 to June 25, 2024, which eventually qualified her as the right candidate for the DM’s post in the district.
A growing metropolitan region
The twin cities of Noida and Greater Noida are growing at a rapid pace. As per the 2011 census data, Gautam Buddha Nagar district has a population of around 16 lakhs with 6 lakh people residing in Noida and the rest 10 lakh in Greater Noida. The population of these twin cities have grown manifold since then. But what has really failed to keep up pace with the growing population’s needs is infrastructure and public utilities. There is a massive disparity in terms of economic development between Noida and Greater Noida. Every political regime which has prevailed in Uttar Pradesh has failed to address this issue till date. Be it metro rail routes or good quality roads in the sectors, or even public bus transport services- the huge gaps are clearly visible throughout the length and breadth of the district. There are issues of illegal constructions; lack of demarcation of river floodplains; large gaps in policing with female police personnel-led patrol units and Mahila police stations almost invisible; lack of basic infrastructure like roads, drains and streetlights in the notified villages, environmental issues due to the rise of illegal factories; and encroachment of public roads in sectors by mafia.
The unpleasant conditions of notified villages
While the Noida Authority, GNIDA (Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority) and YEIDA (Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority) are responsible for looking after construction and maintenance of public infrastructure in the sectors under their territorial jurisdiction, there is a clear lack of such initiatives towards developing the notified villages coming under the administrative bodies’ procedural jurisdictions. The sectors are those areas which are witnessing planned development as the land in those zones have been directly acquired by the three authorities. But, as there is no gram panchayat or zilla parishad system in the notified villages, a huge administrative vacuum has been created. There is literally no administrative body to look after the public utilities in the villages. The zilla parishad and gram panchayat systems in Noida and Greater Noida were scrapped by the then Akhilesh Yadav regime way back in 2015. Since then, very little development has taken place in the notified villages. Large swathes of agricultural and kisaan abaadi land have been taken over by fly-by-night illegal builders and colonisers.
There is a lack of pukka bitumen/ concrete roads and drains in the rural areas with negligible number of streetlights present. Mounds of rotting garbage being dumped in each and every street corner may anytime lead to a public health crisis. Large trails of muddy water and deep puddles now dot the approach roads to the villages. The streets inside these areas are literally like flowing drains with insects breeding in them. Students and teachers are often forced to wade through knee-deep dirty water while going to school. There is a total of 287 notified villages in the district which needs urgent attention from the new DM. A vast population living in these villages are of voting age and they will play a crucial role in deciding the winners of the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.
Lack of govt educational institutions
As per the district administration’s official website (gbnagar.nic.in), there is only one state government university – Gautam Buddha University, and just one govt college- Kumari Mayawati Government Girls Post Graduate College (affiliated to Chaudhary Charan Singh University of Meerut) in the district. But there are countless number of private higher educational institutions which charge exorbitant fees. The absence of government universities and colleges in the district has literally made higher education unaffordable not just for the poor, but also for the lower middle-class people residing in Gautam Buddha Nagar. The new DM must push the proposal to the ruling dispensation in Lucknow to set up more numbers of state govt universities and colleges in Noida and Greater Noida. The union government must also explore the possibility of setting up a world-class central university with hostel facilities (on the lines of Delhi University) in the district. Options for setting up IITs and IIMs must also be considered seriously.
Need more govt health facilities
As per the website – gbnagar.nic.in, there is only one state government hospital- Govt. District Hospital in Gautam Buddha Nagar. Large number of private hospitals have sprung up across the district which charge exorbitant fees for poor patients even for basic treatments. The new DM must coordinate with the state govt and take initiatives towards setting up a few more state government hospitals and medical colleges in the district. The central government should also understand that just having one large AIIMS at New Delhi is not enough to cater to the growing population of NCR (National Capital Region). A new AIIMS, or even a branch of the larger one in Delhi, will prove to be a blessing not just people living in Noida and Greater Noida, but for the entire NCR region.
Addressing the public transport issue
While the Delhi Metro has a large network of metro rail systems, Noida lags behind in mass rapid transit network. The Delhi Metro has two tracks in Noida- the Magenta Line terminating at Botanical Garden metro station and the Blue Line terminating at Noida Electronic City metro station. The NMRC (Noida Metro Rail Corporation) runs a single route (Aqua Line) from Sector-51 to Depot station which is grossly inadequate for the growing population in the metropolitan region. The planned two-phase extension of the Aqua Line from Sector-51 to Knowledge Park-V needs urgent clearance. The proposed Ghaziabad-Jewar Regional Rapid Train System (RRTS) which will cater to a large population of the district also needs a push. Just like Delhi Transport Corporation runs a vast network of bus routes, Noida and Greater Noida also needs a robust network of buses and minibuses which will not just help in decongesting the city by encouraging more people to use cheap public transport in lieu of private transport, but will also aid in bridging the last mile connectivity gap. The new DM has to be more proactive towards realising these legitimate demands of the people.
The biggest challenge: Checking illegal constructions
The twin cities of Noida and Greater Noida were always envisioned as well planned and developed cities by the Yogi and Modi governments. But a spate of challenges is now eclipsing this dream. While the Noida Authority, GNIDA (Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority) and YEIDA (Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority) are directly responsible for overlooking development in the sectors, the villages (rural areas) of Noida and Greater Noida are becoming a den of illegal colonisers, land mafia and fly-by-night builders. While the state government is proactively engaged in demolition activities against unauthorised structures built on authority-acquired land, the villages of Greater Noida West are witnessing haphazard and unplanned development right under the glaring eyes of the state administration. Hundreds of builder floor societies and shopping complexes are being constructed without any conversion of agricultural land and without any sanctioned plan from GNIDA, thus usurping thousands of hectares of arable land and kisaan abaadi plots and depleting the underground water table through illegal extraction of groundwater for these unauthorised projects.
While lakhs of people in the planned sectors of Noida and Greater Noida are eagerly waiting for registrations of their newly purchased legally constructed flats, the registrations of illegally constructed apartments in the rural areas of the twin cities are happening at a lightning pace. According to a Dainik Jagran newspaper report published on August 19, 2025, around two lakh people are waiting for their legally bought flats in Noida and Greater Noida. This pushed many people to acquire unauthorised properties in the rural areas of the cities. As of today, 70,000 builder-floor flats are under construction in more than 2000 illegal residential projects in Noida and Greater Noida, in which 75 percent of the properties are already booked. Moreover, the illegal colonisers have already sold one lakh such flats to gullible customers. Due to ongoing litigations and delays in construction and handover of legally constructed high-rise projects, the illegal colonisers and land mafias are luring ignorant people into buying unauthorised flats and commercial shops in the rural areas of the district.
As per the established land use rules of GNIDA and Noida Authority, no unplanned construction is allowed in the notified villages of Noida and Greater Noida, without the authority’s approval. The kisaan abaadi land in the villages are reserved for farmers and landholders who are traditionally living in Noida and Greater Noida since generations. The three tehsil offices in Gautam Buddh Nagar (Dadri Tehsil, Noida’s Sadar Tehsil and Jewar Tehsil) are built to handle the documentation and legal nitty-gritties of villagers living in the rural areas of Noida and Greater Noida. But nowadays, these three tehsil offices have become a hotbed of unauthorised registrations (on e-stamp paper) of flats and apartments built in illegal builder societies.
Earlier the gram panchayats and zilla parishads were responsible for passing building plans for construction of houses in the villages. But since the zilla parishad and panchayat system was scrapped in 2015 in Gautam Buddha Nagar, an administrative power vacuum ensued and has created new complexities. There is a provision of floor wise registration of flats in legally built group housing societies built on leasehold land notified by the GNIDA and Noida Authority. But the same registration system is now being implemented by the illegal colonisers in the villages and the registrations are happening at breakneck speed without any checks and balances in the three tehsil offices. Multi-storeyed buildings are being built on kisaan abaadi plots and multiple registrations are being executed on a single khasra land. As these villages are outside the administrative jurisdiction of Noida Authority, GNIDA and YEIDA, and the old panchayat system has been scrapped, the illegal colonisers are having a free run minting thousands of crores of rupees worth of illicit black money. “These haphazard developments in the notified villages of Greater Noida are creating new problems for the state government in acquiring land parcels for planned development of the city. The government is unable to notify multiple khasras of land for priority acquisition for execution of ambitious projects like roads, parks, electricity substations and data-centres”, said Jitendra Gautam, OSD (Officer on Special Duty), GNIDA. The state government must crackdown immediately on the illegal e-stamp paper registration of flats in the three tehsil offices without any further delay.
The Supreme Court has categorically stated in its final order dated December 17, 2024 in the Rajendra Kumar Barjatya case (2024 INSC 990) that illegal and unauthorised construction cannot be perpetuated and such constructions have to be necessarily demolished. Moreover, in another order dated April 30, 2025 in the Kaniz Ahmed versus Sabuddin case (2025 INSC 610), the Supreme Court has clearly stated that courts should not readily engage themselves in the judicial regularisation of illegal constructions. In one of the points in both the judgements, the apex court has stated: “Banks / financial institutions shall sanction loan against any building as a security only after verifying the completion / occupation certificate issued to a building on production of the same by the parties concerned.” But despite of this crystal-clear order, banks and NBFCs (Non-Banking Financial Companies) are illegally sanctioning loans against illegally constructed properties in Noida and Greater Noida. The onus now lies on the new District Magistrate to not just stop registrations of unauthorised constructions in the three tehsil offices, but also to write a letter to the Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notifying the apex court order so that banks and NBFCs are warned by the RBI not to approve loans for such projects.
Solving the ongoing NGT cases
In 2024, Ghaziabad resident and five-time municipal councillor and prominent BJP leader Rajendra Tyagi filed a petition at the NGT (National Green Tribunal) against illegal constructions (Original Application No. 329/2024, being represented by Advocate Akash Vashishtha). In an order dated December 9, 2024, the NGT banned all illegal constructions of residential apartments and commercial complexes in Noida and Greater Noida. NGT also clearly stated that any establishment which lacks an EC (Environmental Clearance), CTE (Consent to Establish) and CTO (Consent to Operate) from the UPPCB (Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board) will not be permitted to proceed with constructions. The tribunal also directed the UPPCB to prevent illegal plotting in the floodplain zones of Hindon and Yamuna rivers. The last hearing in the case took place on July 28, 2025. But despite of the NGT’s directives, contempt of court is desperately being committed. The next hearing in the case will take place on October 8, 2025. The DM, UPPCB and the District Ground Water Management Council are parties to the case. Medha Roopam now has this complex case to solve with her superior administrative skills.
In another NGT case filed by Alok Kumar (Original Application No. 569/2023), the District Collector (the new DM) is also a party. The petition asks for carrying out a detailed survey and clearly demarcating the floodplain zones of Hindon and Yamuna rivers with pinpoint accuracy. The case has been lingering since many years with the survey getting delayed repeatedly due to bureaucratic hurdles and lack of regulatory approvals. The new District Magistrate needs to be proactive in taking this case to a logical conclusion which will prevent people falling into the conundrum of cobweb-like encroachments degrading the floodplain zones of these two important rivers in Gautam Buddha Nagar.
Smart policing
With a massively growing population, the number of crimes has also increased in Noida and Greater Noida. The police in the district are not just understaffed, but also ill-prepared due to lack of modern equipment and technologies. The police need drones, a greater number of patrol vehicles and even a far larger number of police stations than what exists today. It is a matter of great concern that such a large district spread across a wide geographical area has only one women’s police station at Sector-39 in Noida. Gautam Buddha Nagar requires at least two to three more women’s police stations in the district. There needs to be at least one women’s police station in Dadri and Jewar tehsils. Villages like Jalpura, Sunpura, Haldoni and Chauganpur are facing a massive uptick in crimes, and these areas need new permanent police stations along with intense police patrolling operations at night. Every police station needs to have helpdesks for women. Dense networks of CCTV cameras also need to be installed at all public spaces in the twin cities of Noida and Greater Noida.
New Allahabad High Court bench in Noida
A proposed permanent bench of the Allahabad High Court in Western Uttar Pradesh has been the topic of discussions since 1950s, but has not been established till date. A long line of judgments of the Supreme Court has held that access to justice is a fundamental right of all citizens. Litigants in Western Uttar Pradesh have to travel over 600 km to Allahabad and engage new lawyers in order to file appeals. They often take over night trains, stay in hotels in Allahabad and engage new lawyers with whom they may have no relations or may have never worked with. An adjournment becomes prohibitive. These are additional costs imposed on the litigants from Western Uttar Pradesh and all these costs taken together restrict the access to justice to the litigants from Western Uttar Pradesh. Shockingly, eight other High Courts are closer to litigants of Western High Court than their own High Court in Allahabad. These High Courts are: Delhi High Court, High Court at Shimla, High Court at Chandigarh, High Court at Nainital, High Court at Jammu, High Court (permanent bench) at Jammu, High Court (permanent bench) at Gwalior.
Ironically, even the High Court at Lahore in Pakistan is geographically closer to Western Uttar Pradesh than Allahabad High Court. The 18th Law Commission in its 230th Report had also extensively supported the creation of new High Court benches in states. Taking into consideration the growing population of Western Uttar Pradesh, it will be admirable if the new DM of Gautam Buddha Nagar seriously looks into the matter and sets the ball rolling towards a establishing a permanent bench of the Allahabad High Court in Greater Noida.
(The author is a Greater Noida-based journalist)
