NOIDA: Rampant encroachment has forced the Noida Authority to make changes in the layout of its industrial and institutional sectors.Squatters have not only reduced the area earmarked for the development of institutional plots in one sector but has also forced the Authority to build a road in the area previously demarcated for a green belt.A proposal to amend the layout plan of sectors 161 and 162-164 was presented by the Authority.But during the physical verification conducted by the engineering wing, the land depicted in the layout was found occupied.The matter displaying the proposed changes in the layout plan was discussed before the Authority board on November 2. The layout for Sector 161 (institutional) was approved initially in December 2016. However, most of the land was not acquired. Even the portion that was acquired is now unavailable for creating an access road to it.The institutional department had last month requested to prepare a revised layout plan based on the currently acquired land for the development of Sector 161. Additionally, a survey of Sector 161 (institutional) was conducted by work circle-10, and the report was provided to the planning department.Based on this, the layout of Sector 161, spread over 50 hectares, was revised. The area allocated for institutional use has now been reduced from 42.3 to 36.7 hectares in the revised plan. The areas designated for commercial development and greenery have also been slightly reduced. At the same time, the area for road construction and facility development has been increased by approximately 6 hectares.In the industrial sectors 162 and 164, road construction work is hindered by encroachments at various locations and the construction of farmers houses along the road alignment between the two sectors. To address this problem, a proposal to eliminate the green belt originally planned along the road and create a 30m stretch through the previously allotted green belt land has been put forward. The proposal for planning and constructing a wider road was presented in the meeting of the Authority in August of this year. Subsequently, a revised layout plan for Sector 164 was prepared. While maintaining the net sector area of 69.3 hectares from the previously approved layout of Sector 164, the area designated for green belt has been reduced by over one hectare (from 5.5 hectares to 4.2 hectares). However, there has been no change in the position and area of the planned industrial plots (40.8 hectares) in the layout plan of industrial Sector 164.

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