YEIDA Board Approves Hiked 64.7% Land Compensation for Farmers Outside Master Plan-2041

What the board decided

The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) planned to offer hiked 64.7 per cent land compensation to farmers in districts including Aligarh, Mathura, Hathras and Agra, whose land falls outside the master plan-2041. Earlier, YEIDA had not given the hiked compensation on the ground that this land is outside the master plan, but following its board decision, the authority will take this land making it a part of the master plan development.

CEO Arun Vir Singh said the board's decision is meant to ensure that the farmers do not suffer and get what they deserve for their land, at par with other farmers whose land falls within the master plan zone.

Why the gap existed

YEIDA's land bank spans six districts along the Yamuna Expressway. Around 200,000 hectares from 1,187 villages of six districts — Gautam Budh Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura, and Agra — were notified under YEIDA. On April 24, 2001, the Uttar Pradesh government had established YEIDA for development of areas between Greater Noida and Agra to set up industries and develop urban areas.

Over the years YEIDA had purchased some parcels directly from farmers in the outer districts, but treated them differently for compensation purposes because they sat outside the formal Master Plan-2041 boundary. Officials said YEIDA was not yet aware how much land fell in this category or the total amount it would need to pay, noting the land had been bought directly by the authority in the past without realising it wasn't earmarked for any immediate planned project, and that this land sits outside the master plan-2041 followed for development along the Yamuna Expressway.

Where the 64.7% figure comes from

The 64.7% rate is not new — it traces back over a decade. YEIDA's 51st board meeting decided to pay farmers 64.7 per cent increased compensation and pass on the burden to allottees, after Noida and Greater Noida farmers had already secured 64.7 per cent compensation and 10 per cent developed land under an Allahabad High Court direction, while YEIDA farmers were initially denied the same because their cases were still pending in court. The state government approved payment of the increased amount as a "no-litigation bonus," with the YEIDA board formally approving the 64.7 per cent no-litigation bonus payment.

Enforcement of this bonus later extended to private developers too: YEIDA sent notices to builders seeking recovery of 64.7 percent additional compensation for thousands of farmers, following Supreme Court orders. One such notice demanded that ATS Group and Supertech Limited deposit Rs 332.6 crore within two weeks so farmers could receive the additional compensation.

Practical effect of the March 2025 decision

The immediate effect is administrative and financial rather than a fresh land acquisition announcement: it changes eligibility, not boundaries drawn overnight. Land that was previously excluded from Master Plan-2041 — and therefore from the enhanced compensation — is to be absorbed into the master plan so the same 64.7% no-litigation rate can be applied. At the time of the announcement, YEIDA had not quantified either the acreage involved or the resulting payout, since the authority did not have a firm count of how much of this "outside" land it held across the four districts.

Related decisions around the same period show the mechanics of how allottees, not just the state, help fund these payouts: roughly 10,000 apartment buyers and 5,000 plot owners could be affected by YEIDA's move to let them pay the 64.7% raised compensation component in four instalments instead of a lump sum, since YEIDA passes this additional financial burden on to property allottees, including those who bought industrial plots before 2014.

Follow-on board decisions widening the same policy

Subsequent YEIDA board meetings extended and quantified this direction. At the 85th board meeting: the board approved Phase-2 of the Master Plan 2031 focused on boosting development in rural belts of Aligarh, Mathura, Hathras and Agra, including granting commercial activity permissions within a 200-metre radius in designated rural areas, with a systematic application and evaluation framework to be put in place.

By the 86th board meeting: the board confirmed disbursement of Rs.2,835.03 crore as 64.7% additional compensation (No Litigation Incentive) to farmers affected by land acquisition from 2007–2013. The same meeting reviewed the emerging shape of the New Agra Urban Centre itself: Phase-II Agra Urban Centre planning, covering 14,480.61 hectares with a projected 16.5 lakh population, envisages mixed land use for residential (3,527.65 ha), commercial (648.24 ha), industrial (3,025.21 ha), micro-land use (812.62 ha), tourism (680.72 ha), green zones (2,325.63 ha), transportation (2,189.22 ha), logistics (158.84 ha) and water bodies (78.02 ha), alongside a 75-hectare solar park and a 34,250 MLD reservoir along the Yamuna and Karwan rivers.

Wider context: New Agra Urban Centre planning

An earlier planning figure, reported in October 2024 alongside UP government approval of Master Plan-2031 Phase-2, described a somewhat smaller footprint: the proposed New Agra Urban Centre spans 10,500 hectares along the Yamuna Expressway, planned as a centre for commercial and tourism-driven development, with commercial spaces, tourism infrastructure and recreational zones. YEIDA is committed to ensuring developments comply with Taj Trapezium Zone regulations protecting the Taj Mahal, and has engaged a private consultant to draft a comprehensive master plan, expected within nine months of that report. The larger 14,480.61-hectare figure reported at the 86th board meeting (autumn 2025) reflects the plan's evolution as YEIDA finalised land-use details — it is not the same fixed boundary as the March 2025 compensation decision, which concerned a different, unquantified set of parcels bought outside the master plan.

What this means for farmers, allottees and buyers

• For farmers in Aligarh, Mathura, Hathras and Agra whose land was bought by YEIDA outside the master plan boundary, this decision opens a path to the same 64.7% enhanced payout already given to Noida/Greater Noida-area and inside-master-plan farmers.
• For existing allottees, prior experience with the 64.7% no-litigation bonus shows the cost is typically recovered from plot/flat buyers and developers rather than absorbed entirely by YEIDA — as seen in the instalment scheme and builder-recovery notices described above.
• For investors tracking the New Agra Urban Centre, the compensation decision is a precondition-clearing step: it signals YEIDA's intent to formally bring more Agra-district land into the master-planned zone, which is a prerequisite before that land can be zoned, serviced and offered under any future plot or industrial scheme.
• Numbers to watch: as of the March 2025 report, YEIDA had not published the acreage or total cost linked specifically to this "outside master plan" cohort; later board meetings (85th, 86th) show the policy being operationalised with concrete area and disbursement figures for the region overall.