Sports City Project in Noida Faces Encroachment

Due to a failure to meet fundamental licensing standards for establishing sports facilities alongside housing projects, the Sports City project in Sector 79 Noida has suffered substantial obstacles. As a result, the idea is now being challenged by tiny sports academies and vendors. According to residents, local vendors have reportedly set up improvised stalls and tin shades on unoccupied plots within the Sports City project. Unauthorized excavation and illegal soil sales have also taken place on some of these unoccupied properties. Despite local complaints, the Noida Authority has struggled to properly address the situation. Ashok Vardhan, a resident of an incomplete Sports City project in Sector 79, expressed his displeasure, claiming that the Authority could not register units or complete the Sports City projects and the encroachments continue unabated. 

While the Noida Authority cleared shanties from the project site in March, the encroachments resurfaced within a few months. Another homeowner, Sanwarjeet Singh, mentioned the appearance of an indoor academy on vacant land. He said that the site had been covered with tin sheets in order to build a cricket academy, but this was only one example of encroachment on project land. Over the last five years, settlers have taken a number of unoccupied plots as well as a 35-meter-wide greenbelt adjacent. In response to the occurrence, Noida ACEO Satish Pal indicated that the Authority would conduct an investigation and take suitable measures. The delayed Sports City project has left approximately 15000 flat owners in over 15 developments in the sector waiting for completion. The Sports City project, which was intended to provide top-tier sporting infrastructure as well as residences, has been plagued by difficulties, including land distribution concerns. The Allahabad High Court requested a response from the Noida Authority in April of this year about its decision to commence proceedings against developers for failing to build Sports City on schedule despite the fact that the whole land necessary for the project had not yet been assigned.