'Declare Noida part of Delhi': AAP demands in open letter to PM Modi, cites freebies

In an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Aam Aadmi Party's Gautam Buddh Nagar unit chief has urged to make western Uttar Pradesh district, including Noida, a part of Delhi.

In the letter, AAP's Gautam Buddh Nagar president Bhupendra Singh Jadaun said that the move would ensure development of the district on the lines of the national capital and people would get basic amenities like water, electricity and public transport either free or at minimum cost.

Jadaun's letter on Monday coincided with Modi's visit to Greater Noida in Gautam Buddh Nagar where he inaugurated the World Dairy Summit 2022.

"The Arvind Kejriwal government is providing basic civic facilities like electricity, water, education, health, transport to the people of Delhi free of cost or at minimum price, but the entire Gautam Buddh Nagar district, including Noida, is deprived of it," the AAP local leader wrote.

"On the lines of Delhi, children of the poor can get good education in a good environment even in government schools. Women can get free of cost bus travel, the elderly could go for pilgrimage for free.

"Similarly people won't have to stand in queues at government offices for small jobs like Aadhaar card, ration card, driving license, birth certificates, property registrations, etc," he added.

Jadaun further said that if his demand is met, the people of the district will get the right to choose their representatives of the local corporations just as they do in Delhi.

The people of urban and rural areas here should get the ownership rights of their land, while those living in the so-called illegal colonies should also get ownership and basic facilities like Delhi, he added.

He alleged that corruption by officials of the three local authorities - the Noida Authority, the Greater Noida Authority, and the Yamuna Expressway Authority ? have been a blot on the district's reputation.

"Hence, the Aam Aadmi Party demands that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should declare the merger of the entire Gautam Buddh Nagar, including Noida, into Delhi," the AAP's district chief wrote.

Gautam Buddh Nagar, adjoining Delhi in western Uttar Pradesh, was formed in 1997. Spread in 1,442-sq-km area, it was carved out of portions of Ghaziabad and Bulandshahr districts. The district has three tehsils - Sadar (Noida), Dadri, and Jewar.