Identity crisis

When Anmol Prabhakar wanted to buy some furniture online for his new home, he realised that he would be unable to get the delivery of his purchase, as his home in Noida Extension did not have a pin code. "I feel like I have fallen into a 'no man's land', in a foreign territory which no one wants to own," laments Prabhakar.

In the absence of an official pin code, many new home buyers in Noida Extension are also finding it tough to get their existing phone connection transferred to this region. "The irony is that unlike some other new property markets, where there is no planning, Noida Extension has been planned and created by the government agency, Greater Noida Authority. This prompted us to buy here, as we felt it would be safer in terms of getting all the basic necessities," says another home buyer, Nirmala Sharma.

Confusion prevails

While developers maintain that these problems will be sorted out and soon Noida Extension will flourish as a vibrant sub-city, they have, thus far, shied away from taking up the issue with the Greater Noida Authority in a collective manner. Industry body CREDAI, also refused to respond to queries sent on the issue. Several developers having projects in the area are also perturbed over the fact as it is 

Noida Extension has been carved out of various villages in Uttar Pradesh and many of these villages have different pin codes. If that is used in housing projects, then, two neighbouring housing projects can have different pin codes. This will only add to the existing confusion. According to him, it is problematic even for developers to market their projects, if different localities of Noida Extension have different pin codes.

Identity crisis

With nearly three lakh units coming up in Noida Extension, this market is all set to be one of the largest sub-cities in north India. Many residents of Noida Extension, maintain that they are willing to cope with the lack of social infrastructure in the vicinity and poor public transport. However, they feel that the region's identity confusion owing to the pin code issue, needs to be sorted urgently, as it is severely restricting their access to basic services that they are willing to pay for.

Requesting anonymity, a representative of telecom service provider Airtel, admits that this is a unique problem that the telecom operator has not faced earlier in any other part of the country. "Unless the government clarifies whether there would be one uniform pin code or separate pin codes in the region, depending upon the erstwhile pin code of villages, telecom operators will shy away from investing in basic infrastructure in this market," says the Airtel representative.

Urban planning fundamentals suggest that for a city to grow as a residential or commercial hub and to lure its potential customers, basic infrastructure and facilities need to be put in place. On paper, Noida Extension definitely boasts of detailed planning, vis-à-vis infrastructure, road connectivity, sewage and sanitation, electricity, etc. However, in reality, this market is struggling with issues that are quite unique, especially for a market that has been conceptualised and created by a government agency.

— Inputs from Housing.com/News