Representational
The Noida Village Residents' Association (NOVRA) on Thursday launched a voter awareness campaign as it also raised demand for revival of panchayat system in villages and five per cent reservation for locals whose lands have been acquired.
The registered body with 81 villages in Noida as its members said its functionaries will reach out to the people to raise awareness among them for voting in the April 11 election here and also raise their demands with the poll candidates.
NOVRA's demands include five per cent reservation in jobs for villagers whose lands have been acquired by the Noida Authority, the same exists as a part of contract between the Noida Authority and plot owners, it said in a statement.
"Villagers are treated as second class citizens, most of the new policies are centred for urban areas and not rural areas of Noida, eg public toilets, flyovers, dustbins, etc. This practise should stop and villages be given preferences," the body's president Ranjan Tomar said.
"A local body should be setup either through a municipality act or village panchayats should be revived," he said.
"The citizen charter should be effectively implemented. Noida officers be reprimanded and action taken against those not solving problems on time, around 60 per cent of problems registered on citizen charter are not solved in time," Tomar said.
The association also demanded that village students be given reservation in public schools (whose lands have been acquired) and the Right to Education (RTE) Act be "implemented properly".
"We are not politically opinionated or inclined, we just want the issues related to villages in this high tech city addressed by whoever gets elected," Tomar told PTI.
Of the nearly 23 lakh votes across Gautam Buddh Nagar, Noida assembly segment has 6.68 lakh voters. The voter turn out in Noida in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections was around 50 per cent, lesser than the overall 60 per cent across Gautam Buddh Nagar.
