Heritage City Raya: Land Acquisition Status and Compensation

Acquisition model: consent-based purchase, not a forced award

YEIDA has commenced the land acquisition process for the planned Heritage City project in Mathura district, and to facilitate this, the authority is actively seeking consent from local farmers. The stated approach follows a Public-Private Partnership (PPP)-style model, allowing direct purchases from farmers rather than conventional acquisition methods.

By late October 2025, YEIDA had revised the concept after assessing potential financial risks, so that the Authority itself develops the residential and commercial segments, while religious, tourism, and cultural infrastructure is created through PPP partnerships. This hybrid model was adopted partly because a fully PPP-based structure could face cost-recovery challenges, especially since the Authority itself is responsible for land acquisition.

This is a different route from the compulsory Land Acquisition Act process YEIDA used for the original Yamuna Expressway corridor in Gautam Budh Nagar in the 2007–2011 period, which triggered large-scale farmer protests in villages such as Bhatta and Parsaul. No reporting found ties those older disputes directly to the Raya/Heritage City site.

Compensation rates — not yet fixed for this site

An official said in mid-2025 that registration of land would begin once compensation rates were finalised, a decision expected at the upcoming YEIDA board meeting, after which compensation distribution and sale-deed execution would commence. No later report was found confirming that this rate-setting meeting had produced a published per-acre or per-hectare figure for the Heritage City site specifically.

Separately, in March 2025 YEIDA approved a broader compensation increase for farmers holding land outside its master-plan boundary. YEIDA planned to offer a hiked 64.7% land compensation to farmers in Aligarh, Mathura, Hathras and Agra districts whose land falls outside Master Plan-2041, after previously withholding the higher rate on the grounds that this land was outside the master plan. This is a district-wide policy change covering Mathura district broadly; it is not confirmed in reporting as the specific rate applied to the Heritage City/Raya Urban Centre parcel.

No specific ₹-per-hectare or ₹-per-acre compensation figure for the Heritage City/Raya site itself was found in current reporting. Any number quoted elsewhere for this project should be treated with caution until YEIDA publishes it officially.

Villages and district coverage

The Heritage City site sits within the Raya Urban Centre, entirely in Mathura district, Uttar Pradesh. No source found in this research gives a confirmed village-by-village list or per-village count specifically for the 750–773 acre Heritage City parcel or the wider Raya Urban Centre.

For context on scale, YEIDA's overall notified footprint across all its projects is much larger: around 200,000 hectares from 1,187 villages across six districts — Gautam Budh Nagar, Bulandshahnagar, Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura, and Agra — are notified under YEIDA. This figure covers YEIDA's entire jurisdiction, not the Raya/Heritage City site alone, and should not be read as the village count for this specific project.

Planning documents for the Raya Urban Centre master plan reference the Baldeo area of Mathura district in the layout mapping, but no source found gives a confirmed, named list of villages whose land is being acquired for Heritage City specifically. This page will be updated once YEIDA or district authorities publish a village-wise acquisition list.

Budget: figures vary across reports and dates

Reported cost figures for Heritage City have shifted across different disclosures, likely reflecting evolving scope and revised DPRs:

• An earlier (2024) report put the project at 750 acres with a budget of Rs 1,220 crore.
• A late-October 2025 report said the Heritage City, spread over 753 acres, was estimated to cost Rs 950 crore.
• The same report said about Rs 700 crore would be spent on land acquisition, which YEIDA planned to fund through the sale of residential and commercial plots, with the CEO noting that strong demand for residential plots in Mathura would make it easier to raise funds.
• Another October 2025 report described a ₹7,200-crore project located within the proposed Raya Urban Centre, spanning around 753 acres.

These figures are not reconciled in the source reporting — they may refer to different scopes (Heritage City alone vs. the wider Raya Urban Centre) or reflect revisions between drafts of the DPR. Readers should treat the Rs 700 crore land-acquisition figure as the most specific number tied directly to land purchase, dated late October 2025.

Disputes and farmer negotiations

As of the June 2025 reporting, the process described was consent-seeking rather than confrontational: the authority was actively seeking consent from local farmers ahead of finalising rates. No report found describes protests, road blockades, or litigation specifically tied to the Heritage City/Raya land parcel.

This contrasts with YEIDA's earlier history on the original Yamuna Expressway corridor, where forced acquisition in Gautam Budh Nagar district led to major unrest. That dispute involved different villages (Bhatta, Parsaul, and others) and a different, older acquisition process under the pre-2013 Land Acquisition Act — it is not the same land parcel as Heritage City Raya, though it is part of the same authority's broader acquisition history and relevant background for any landowner assessing YEIDA's track record.

Current stage (as of the latest available reporting)

Based on the most recent reports found (through late October 2025):

• Initially, YEIDA had proposed executing Heritage City on the lines of the Film City project with a single private developer over a 10-year period, but later revised this so the Authority develops residential and commercial segments directly, with religious, tourism, and cultural infrastructure via PPP.
• A CEO statement indicated the proposal, the consultant's assessment report, and the revised alignment of an expressway linking Heritage City to Vrindavan were to be discussed at the Authority's board meeting scheduled for November 2025.
• Separately, the proposed 7-km expressway link to Vrindavan's Banke Bihari Temple was re-aligned from a curved to a straightened route to avoid flood-prone areas, after waterlogging during the preceding monsoon, with YEIDA instructing consultant CBRE South Asia to carry out a flood-impact assessment before finalising the alignment.
• The DPR was set to be reviewed by the UP bid evaluation committee and the committee of secretaries, after which YEIDA would initiate the land acquisition process needed to bring the Master Plan-2031 to fruition.

No confirmed report of a finalised compensation rate, a completed land handover, or a signed developer agreement was found beyond this point. Readers should treat the project as being in the pre-acquisition/DPR-finalisation stage as of late 2025, pending board approvals and rate notification.

Land use split for the wider Raya Urban Centre (Master Plan-2031)

The following hectare-wise splits apply to the entire Raya Urban Centre master plan area (9,366.2 hectares), not solely to the Heritage City acquisition parcel: approximately 701.68 hectares are allocated for commercial spaces, 853.46 hectares for industrial development, and 1,592.26 hectares for green belts. Residential use accounts for 2,216.25 hectares, parks and playgrounds cover 586.87 hectares with a further 287.10 hectares for recreational green space, office space is allocated 132.63 hectares, and semi-public uses such as healthcare and education cover 746.83 hectares. Tourism infrastructure allocation was increased from 731.3 hectares to 1,520.51 hectares.