As Gautam Buddha Nagar Lok Sabha constituency goes to polls on Friday with seven other seats in Uttar Pradesh, the hurly-burly of last-minute campaigns is missing in Ranhera village. For locals gathered at a choupal (community space) around a banyan tree, an impending dislocation is top of the mind. Neeraj Kumar turns wistful. “We have grown up playing around this tree, so have our fathers and grandfathers,” says the 35-year-old as children scamper around it.
Ranhera village will soon be subsumed by the Noida International Airport, and its residents have decided to boycott the Lok Sabha poll. “Humara poora gav uthega... (Our entire village will be uprooted),” says Mr. Kumar, pointing to a concrete wall that separates their village from the under-construction airport that is scheduled to start operations from September this year.
The authorities plan to relocate the 4,700-odd population to two plots, near the proposed International Film City and the airport, also known as Jewar. The villagers’ fears are twofold. One, a loss of livelihood after the land is acquired by the authorities, and the promised plots after relocation being half the size of their existing ones.
