Cash-strapped Noida Authority urges state to take over govt schools

The Noida Authority, one of the richest civic bodies in the country, has told the state government that it cannot bear the expenses of running government schools in the area. DNA has a copy of the Noida Authority letter, in which it has urged the state to hand over these schools to the state Education Department.

Noida Authority Financial Controller Manmohan Mishra confirmed the report to DNA. "The Noida Authority is already reeling under financial burden as it is not getting funds from developers and allottees against the land allotted to them. It is not a smart decision to bear the financial burden of government schools running in the city," Mishra said, adding that the Authority has sent a letter to the state, urging it to ask the Education Department to adopt these schools.

It is pertinent to mention here that during the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) regime in Uttar Pradesh (UP), four state-of-the-art schools were opened in Noida and Greater Noida. According to Mishra, every year, the Noida Authority pays Rs 12 crore for maintenance, staff salaries, and other miscellaneous expenses of these schools.

"Once, the state Education Department adopts these schools, it will not only ease the burden on the authority but will also help to run these schools more professionally, as the Authority does not have any experts as of now. We are expecting that a decision regarding the issue will be taken within a month," he added.

According to sources, the Noida Authority is bearing the losses incurred due to faulty schemes launched during the BSP and the SP regimes in the state. Critical issues involving developers and home buyers, such as delay in possession and registration of properties, erupted. This was followed by an order issued by the BSP government in 2009, which stated that plots would be allotted to developers only after they paid 10 per cent of the total cost of the land. The rest of the amount was to be paid within the next eight years. The developers were allowed to pay one installment every six months.

In more relief to developers, the government also announced that it will charge interest only in the first two years, extending the payment time to 10 years. Sources in the UP government said that during this period, incompetent and inexperienced players also entered the business but finally failed to live up to their promises to home buyers.

The Noida Authority issues completion certificates to construction projects only after complete payment has been made for the plots. So far, around 150 projects in the area are in the defaulters' list, with the total default amounting to Rs 25,000 crore. Many developers failed to pay the entire money to the Authority, and so, did not get the completion certificate, without which the Stamp and Registration Department does not register properties. All this has left the home buyers in a lurch.

Meanwhile, besides the Noida Authority, the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority is also reeling under a financial burden of Rs 10,000 crore.