Curation Team
NOIDA: District administration demolished a farmhouse and swimming pool constructed on panchayat land in Dalelpur village to reclaim 2,000 sqm worth around Rs 2.2 crore on Thursday. Officials said a panchayat office will now be built on the land, which will also serve as a permanent polling booth during elections — a longstanding demand of villagers.
Currently, Dalelpur villagers across the Yamuna on boat or travel nearly 60 km by road to Gulawali village in Sector 168 to cast their votes.
Satpal Chaprana, the villager who filed a complaint about the encroachment last month, said the land was originally earmarked for the panchayat office. “Villagers have waited too long to cast votes without having to take an arduous boat ride or a 2-hour road journey across three states—first crossing into Haryana, then Delhi, to finally reach a booth allotted in Noida. Many people, especially the elderly, have not cast their votes for years as they are unable to make the journey,” he said.
SDM (Sadar) Charul Yadav told TOI that a local villager, Neeraj Tyagi, had constructed a farmhouse and a swimming pool on the land. “We issued him a notice on May 22 after DM Manish Verma directed a joint survey by the tehsil and revenue departments. Subsequently, a final notice was issued on June 5, asking the encroacher to clear the land within three days. But when there was no action from his side, we demolished the structures.”
Yadav said a boundary wall, a pool and a small building were bulldozed by the team. “There were attempts by some people to protest, but we were able to remove them and clear the land. A panchayat office will now be constructed there, and it will be a permanent place for villagers to vote in future elections,” Yadav added.
