Curation Team
NOIDA: The UP govt has set up a panel to review YEIDA‘s jurisdiction, which spans 1,149 villages from Gautam Budh Nagar to Agra and covers 3.35 lakh hectares nearly three times the 1.12 lakh hectares combined area of Noida and Greater Noida.
The committee will explore trimming YEIDA to around 300 villages, balancing long-term planning with im-mediate development needs and ensuring residents and investors in areas outside approved master plans aren’t left waiting for approvals or infrastructure.
According to YEIDA CEO RK Singh, the committee’s mandate is to make the Authority’s master plan more realistic and implementable. “Noida Authority took 50 years to develop 20,000 hectares. One can imagine how much time is needed to develop over 80,000 hectares that are part of YEIDA’s development plans so far,” Singh said.
The challenge stems from the fact that a large portion of YEIDA’s notified area is yet to be covered under its master plan, without which, formal maps and layouts for const-ruction cannot proceed, affecting industries, educational institutions, and large projects interested in setting up operations.
Among the proposals un-der consideration are a phased approach to rationalising development.
One option is empowering district-level bodies, such as zila panchayats, to allow industrial activity in villages outside the immediate master plan, with YEIDA retaining the authority to approve layouts and levy development charges. Another option, which may be discussed, in volves hiring consultants to prepare corridor-based development plans along state highways in six districts, enabling selective approvals.
A third and more drastic alternative would be de-notifying villages unlikely to see development for decades, though officials caution this could encourage unregulated growth.
YEIDA, established in April 2001 as the Taj Express-way Industrial Development Authority, currently manages the largest development jurisdiction in UP.
The notified area was initially 2,689 sq km, expanded to 3,352 sq km (or 3.35 lakh hectares) in 2023, covering 1,149 villages across six districts: Mathura (415 villages), Hathras (358), Gautam Budh Nagar (131), Bulandshahr (95), Aligarh (92), and Agra (58).
The region is divided into two phases. Phase 1, comprising 226 villages across 759 sqkm in GB Nagar and Bulandshahr, has seen industrial and urban development progress. in 107 villages. Phase 2 covers 923 villages across 2,593 sq km in Mathura, Hathras, Agra, and Aligarh.
The Master Plan 2031 for the second phase was approved this year, enabling YEI-DA to plan four major urban centres: Raya (11,654 hectares), Tappal-Bajna (11,104 hec-tares), New Agra (12,200 hec tares), and Hathras (9,000-10,000 hectares). Detai-led project reports are ready for Raya and Tappal-Bajna, while consultants are being engaged for Agra and Hath-ras, though full development may take 15-20 years.
CEO Singh emphasised that the committee’s mandate was not to shrink YEIDA but to make it functional and ensure that long-term planning does not leave residents and investors waiting indefinitely. With the review panel’s re-commendations, the govt ho pes to unlock development in key villages while creating a roadmap for phased urbanisation along the Yamuna Expressway corridor.
The review, however, is expected to have an impact on development projects, including the Noida International Airport, Film City, Logistics. Park and industrial clusters by ensuring that YEIDA’s master plan becomes actionable and effective across its jurisdiction.
