Greater Noida Archives - Lokmarg

Intel Agencies Seek Reports On Pak National Seema From SSB, UP Police

By LokMarg 17th July 2023

Central Intelligence Agencies have sought a report from Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Uttar Pradesh Police on Seema Haider who travelled through Nepal to reach Noida from Pakistan’s Karachi.
A senior official confirmed that the agencies got alerted about Seema Haider, who illegally crossed into India to marry and live with her Indian partner, they asked detailed report from SSB and UP Police.

Haider had crossed over to India to live with Sachin Meena whom she befriended via an online game.

The couple started living together in Greater Noida. However, Haider was arrested on July 4 for illegally entering India without a visa, while Meena was put behind bars for sheltering the illegal immigrants.

“Intelligence agencies have asked report from SSB and UP Police to find out how she managed to cross over without being verified by police personnel at border. We have also demanded report from UP Police as she entered to India via UP border and stayed with her partner for many days,” the official said.

The official further added that they are verifying the claims about her journey she made in TV interviews and they are also finding out who assisted her in arriving in India from Pakistan.

“We are also taking help of technical team to verify her story of her arrival in India. We are also trying to get information about her background as much as possible,” the official said.

Notably, SSB primarily responsible for guarding two borders -Nepal and Bhutan.

Another officer said that unlike other borders, Nepal and Bhutan borders are not fenced.

“People from both the countries travel across on daily basis. Border guarding forces keep watch on movement but because of multiple entries it is impossible to keep watch on every person,” the officer said.

On Monday, a team of UP ATS questioned Seema Haider in Noida. (ANI)

G-20 Summit Will Introduce The World To ‘Brand UP’: Yogi

By LokMarg 28th December 2022

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday chaired a high-level meeting, and gave guidelines to the officials for the successful organisation of the G-20 conferences to be chaired by India in the year 2023, as per an official statement.

CM Yogi said that India has been bestowed the honor of presiding over the G-20 group of leading nations of the world under the successful leadership of the respected Prime Minister in the year of Amrit Mahotsav of Independence. This global event has brought immense possibilities for Uttar Pradesh.
“This event is a great platform to introduce ‘Brand UP’ to the world. We should make the most out of this global event,” the CM said.

He said different events are proposed to be held in Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi, Lucknow, Agra, and Greater Noida during the period of one year of G-20 chaired by India.

“According to the Indian spirit of ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’, preparations should be made to make the event grand in these districts. Everyone will have to make efforts as a team to make this event a standard of cleanliness, beauty, safety and orderliness,” CM Yogi said.

He said that arrangements should be made according to the standard of security of foreign visitors. Necessary arrangements should also be made regarding a medical emergency, traffic, etc. The guests should be introduced to the diverse food cuisines in Uttar Pradesh.

“The cities hosting the G-20 conferences should be given a grand look. Attractive lighting should be arranged at heritage sites of historical and cultural significance in the cities. Pictures depicting the state’s culture should be displayed on the walls on the tour route for the guests. India’s Yoga tradition is being adopted by the whole world today, in such a situation statues can be installed showing different postures of ‘Surya Namaskar’,” CM Yogi advised.

Emphasizing the theme he said that local culture should be made the theme of the event to be held in all four cities. For example, Awadh culture in the capital Lucknow, Braj culture in Agra, Rangotsav, and Ganga culture in Varanasi should be organized as themes, adding, “The guests should be welcomed grandly by showering flowers on their arrival in the state. Take the cooperation of local cultural groups and voluntary organizations.”

“The hosting of G-20 summits is historic. To make it unforgettable and unparalleled, a ‘G-20 Park’ should be established in the capital Lucknow. In this regard, after identifying the place, an action plan should be prepared regarding the outline of the park,” he said.

He further added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given India the name of ‘Mother of Democracy’. Uttar Pradesh has a legacy of rich history.

“Ancient art, culture, history, and archaeological specialties of the state should be compiled and presented on the platform of G-20. The prosperous economy, GDP, industrial development, etc. of the state should also be displayed. The G-20 logo should be used at every event and every correspondence of the state government,” said Yogi.

He said that this conference will be successful in its objectives only with wide public participation. A maximum number of youth should be associated with the G-20 summit.

“Special discussions should be organized on this topic in universities. Exhibition of paintings of young painters of the state should also be organized in all the four cities where the event is being held. Apart from this, book fairs, yoga challenges, craft fairs, and dance and music competitions should be organized at the school level. G-20 branding should be done on local establishments and public vehicles. The three local development authorities should also be involved in organizing the proposed events in Greater Noida,” he added.

CM Yogi said that the hosting of the G-20 is also a good opportunity for upgrading city infrastructure and beautification. The roads on the route on which the delegates have to travel should be arranged according to their needs.

“We have to pay special attention to cleanliness. In the cities where conferences are to be held, a week before the date of the program, a special campaign for cleanliness should be conducted. Efforts should be made to make these cities plastic free. Take the cooperation of public representatives and increase public participation,” the CM said.

CM Yogi said that internet connectivity will play a major role in the successful organization of the G-20 summit. High-speed internet connectivity as per global standards should be available at the venue. Alternative arrangements should also be made. (ANI)

Fire Tenders Douse Massive Fire In Gr. Noida Building; 24 Rescued

By LokMarg 3rd December 2022

A massive fire that broke out in a building in the Shahberi area of Greater Noida West in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday has been doused by more than 12 fire tenders.

According to the Joint Commissioner of Police, Ravi Shankar Chhabi, the fire broke out in the basement of a building in Shahberi, where the Additional Commissioner of Law and Order also reached.
The police and fire officials reached the site in the Bisrakh Police Station area on time and rescued two dozen people from the building. No casualties have been reported so far.

The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.

More details are awaited. (ANI)

Indraprastha Gas Hikes Prices of CNG And Piped Fuel

By LokMarg 8th October 2022

The Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) has increased the price of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) by Rs 3 per kg. With this CNG will cost Rs 78.61 per kg with effect from Saturday.

CNG will cost Rs 81.17 per Kg in Noida, Greater Noida, and Ghaziabad. It will cost Rs 86.94 per Kg in Gurugram.

With the latest hike, CNG is now available at Rs 89.07 per kg in Rewari and Rs 87.27 per kg in Karnal and Kaithal in Haryana.

Meanwhile in Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Shamli, it will be available at Rs 85.84 per kg and will cost Rs 88.88 per kg in Ajmer, Pali, and Rajsamand of Rajasthan.

CNG in Kanpur, Hamirpur, and Fatehpur of UP will cost Rs 90.40 per kg.

Gas distributors have been periodically raising prices since October last year when domestic as well as international gas prices started to climb. Earlier in May, it was hiked by Rs 2.

IGL has also hiked the price of Domestic Piped Natural Gas (PNG) in Delhi to Rs 53.59 per standard cubic meter (SCM).

The new price will come into effect from today. For Ghaziabad, Noida, and Greater Noida, the PNG price has hiked to Rs 53.46 per SCM, while in Gurugram, it will cost Rs 51.79 per SCM.

In Karnal and Rewari, it will cost 52.40 per SCM. For, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Shamli, it will cost 56.97 per SCM. (ANI)

‘Gr Noida Authority Must Wake Up to the Traffic Terror In City’

By LokMarg 25th May 2022

Abhishek Kumar, head of the Noida Extension Flat Owner’s Welfare Association (Nefowa), narrates the hardships of homebuyers in the locality to LokMarg

With over one lakh flats spread over 70 high-rise housing societies in the Greater Noida West, the road infrastructure is horribly inadequate in the locale. The narrow roads, unplanned traffic management and poor driving sense collectively lead to huge jams and loss of man-hours every day. On weekends, driving in this so-called posh locality becomes a traffic mayhem, no less.

Such is the case when the occupancy in these towering gated housing communities is 50 per cent. I dread to imagine the situation when there is near-full occupancy here in the near future; how burdened the current road infrastructure will then be!

The Greater Noida Authority, the state agency responsible for planning, developing and regulating the region, seems the least bothered about the grave situation on the horizon. If civic authorities do not wake up now, there will be anarchy on the Greater Noida roads in a couple of years from now.

I hold the authority responsible for they favoured greedy builders at the cost of accompanying infrastructure. I will give you a practical example: there are no service lanes in Gaur City One and Two, no parking areas; in case of Gaur City Two, there is not even a garden area. Is this the way for our town-planners to develop a modern township?

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The residents pay a heavy price for the authority’s apathy. The police are flooded with calls for help to unclog roads every day. But they can only help to an extent, they are themselves stressed with such a heavy volume of vehicular movement. Road users are also to blame. Wrong side driving is rampant, illegal parking is also a major issue and encroachments on these already narrow roads contribute to creating new bottlenecks.

Many builders of the housing societies have very narrow, single-lane entry-exit points. A single vehicle breakdown can lead to long queues of vehicles in less than ten minutes as the rush is heavy in peak hours. There have been cases when people get stuck outside their apartments for 40 minutes; if they could step out of their cars, they would reach home in five minutes. I plead: spare a thought for some medical emergency and an ambulance stuck in this choc-a-bloc!

The real reason for this daily disorder in several parts of Greater Noida is that the land is largely occupied by housing apartments or shopping malls; parking space, service lanes, breathing space etc. be damned. The town-planners only had real estate in mind, not public spaces such as educational institutions, medical facilities or green covers.

The area is developed only for the homebuyers who are now being left to fend for themselves. Go fight your own daily battle. The authority must take this issue seriously, as the homebuyers will not remain silent for long. Greater Noida residents have invested their lives’ savings to buy a comfortable living space, not spend their precious time on roadblocks.

As told to Deepti Sharma

‘Iftar Without Friends Is Dull, But Safety Comes First’

By LokMarg 15th May 2020

Azeem Khan lives near a Covid-19 hot spot in Greater Noida, UP. Khan says Iftar is no longer a cheerful event but one must follow social distancing. He prays for Covid-19 warriors this Ramzan

Ramzan, the holy month of Muslims around the world, is about praying, reflecting and breaking fast with one’s social circle, close friends and extended family. This year has been an unprecedented one though. While we have been fasting as usual, praying at the mosque and social gathering are prohibited due to the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic. Clearly, these restrictions have taken off the festive spirit of the holy month.

During Ramzan, every Muslim fast throughout the day and look forward to organise a grand Iftar (breaking of fast) and invite friends and our extended family home in the evening. The Iftari we had last year was an awesome gathering. With so many friends and family around, we enjoyed the family feast. Many of my non-Muslim friends also routinely organised iftar parties where we broke bread together over light banter and catching up with one another.

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However, this Ramzan is different. We stay at an area which is very close to a Coronavirus hotspot. The pandemic has triggered a sense of fear among all the residents. From Sehari (the morning meal, before the day-long fast) to Iftari, we keep inside our houses. Since I have a young daughter at home, we are not inviting friends from within gated housing society either. Family safety always comes first. Besides, it is for general good. All of us need to practise the laid-down guidelines to defeat the pandemic.

No matter how dull the celebrations are going to be, we are not taking any risks. We are praying at home. I consider that one good thing from this lockdown is that we are getting to spend all the time in the world with our family. We stay inside, cook food at home to keep minimal contact with other people. We are playing indoor games and watching movies together. The lockdown has given us plenty of time to think and reflect in this holy month.

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I have made it a rule to keep Corona-warriors in my daily prayers. Every day we watch news channels to stay updated and read online news as well. We hope that this trying times will end soon. Till then, there is little else than enjoying lockdown with our family. The entire world, irrespective of nationality and community, has come together in the fight against this pandemic. And this collective spirit will defeat the disease. Insha Allah!

‘I Wish To Work But Lockdown Has Made Me A Beggar’

By LokMarg 12th April 2020

Mehtab Ali, 34, a construction worker, lives in a makeshift shanty of Greater Noida West. Jobless after the lockdown, Ali is forced to live on charity

I came to Greater Noida five years back with my wife and two children in search of better livelihood. Life was not easy in West Bengal. We migrated to Greater Noida with the help of a local contractor, who provided construction labour to several builders.

My only dream is to send both of my children to school and give them a respectable life. I don’t want them to become a labourer like me. Both my wife and I worked in the construction projects here towards that goal.

But as the market (real estate sector) dwindled, so did our income. Sometimes, projects were abandoned due to various reasons. We had little savings but were somehow making two ends when this lockdown was announced.

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In less than ten days, we had run out of ration and our savings. Many of our fellow workers had left on foot but we cannot imagine reaching our native place with two young children.

Now we are totally dependent on the doles from the well-meaning residents in nearby apartment, police and the government which are providing basic supplies to the poor who have stayed put.

We don’t want anything for free; we want to work and earn money; after all that is why we came here all the way from our hometown in West Bengal. There’s nothing more heartbreaking than watching our children go to sleep hungry.

There are some community kitchens providing food packets here but they don’t give more than one packet to one person. A family of four cannot survive in such a small quantity of food. We need ration and fuel to cook. That is all we need as of now.

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We don’t know what the future has in store for us. Will the contractors and builders give our jobs back after the lockdown? For how long will this lockdown will continue? The builders are rich people. We are the ones who built their projects with hard labour but in these difficult times they have abandoned us.

If we continue to live like this, we will be termed nothing more than beggars. We are labourers but we have self esteem. We don’t want free food. The government must think about people like us. There are thousands like me who are left with nothing after they become jobless in one stroke.

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When the strict lockdown was imposed, the police initially hounded some local residents who were trying to distribute ration. If the locals don’t help us fearing the cops, then who will? The situation is critical for us. We didn’t go home after the lockdown like thousands of daily wagers as we have small kids and our home is too far to be walked on foot. But if we are forced to live like this, we will have no other option than walking back home with our kids.

Hometruth – ‘Dream House Or A Nightmare’

By LokMarg Publishing 16th July 2018

A decade ago, Sanjay Kaushik, 45, took pride in calling himself a real estate consultant. He would often tell his clients and potential investors that this was the sunrise sector where money only grew in leaps and bound, better than gold, better than stock market. He is a broken man today.

I lost my savings to two real estate projects that were abandoned by the promoter – JayPee Group – and my wife committed suicide due to depression. Were it not for my children, who knows, I could have also taken a drastic step too.

I got married in 2003. My wife was employed with a Central government hospital in New Delhi and we stayed in government staff quarters. I was self-employed as a real estate professional. With two children from our marriage, life moved like a dream. In 2009, I became ambitious.

I used all my savings, dug into all bank fixed deposits and secured a bank loan to invest in two housing projects: first, a two BHK to move in and the second, a one BHK as investment. Knowing the realty field, I believed it would be wise to put my savings in separate housing projects.

But I made one mistake – of choosing the same builder, JayPee, probably because of its reputation then. Those days, property consultants in Noida and Greater Noida would say that JayPee had such deep pockets that even the (Mayawati-led BSP) government was functioning from there. The shift in power in Uttar Pradesh brought an end to the rising fortunes of JayPee (In 2012, Samajwadi Party took over and ordered an inquiry into several of JayPee real estate deals).

My ambitions crashed with it. We were living in a government accommodation and had planned to leave it 2013, when the possession was scheduled. We were hoping that by leaving staff quarters will save us a substantial amount as HRA (housing rent allowance). As the date of delivering the housing project drew closer, the real estate market saw a huge crash (2012). My earnings dwindled.

This began to tell on our family life. Loud arguments between my wife and I were a daily routine. We dreaded the date of our EMIs, school fees and other monthly expenses. Every time, an unseen expenditure cropped up, we felt humiliated.

Even though the matter moved to court, there was little progress in terms of repayment of buyers’ money. To avoid domestic fights, and probably being an escapist then, I separated from my wife. Yet, there was no peace. The demand in realty sector dried up, so did my income.

Three months back, I was met with another shock. My wife committed suicide. Today, over Rs 30 lakh of my lifetime savings is stuck in the housing projects. I have lost my wife. I have a 14-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son. On top of that, I have bank loan to repay. I had to relinquish government accommodation. My children ask me when we are moving into our own house. Life is miserable. Would JayPee promoters ever know how many lives they have destroyed?

Tag: Greater Noida