Named a 'smart village' in 2015, but still lacks basic facilities: Greater Noida's Sadullapur has no proper roads or drainage after 11 years; nearest hospital takes an hour to reach

Sadullapur, a village of 7,000 residents inside the Greater Noida development zone, was tagged a smart village in 2015 with promises of paved roads, a reliable water supply, and an underground drainage system. Eleven years later, its main access road is an unpaved dirt track, its drain culverts are broken, and the nearest hospital takes a minimum of sixty minutes to reach despite being barely three kilometres away.

The village is one of 14 Greater Noida settlements that were earmarked for development under the smart village programme, a scheme administered by the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA). The programme promised street lighting, community centres, parks, Wi-Fi connectivity, and facilities for persons with disabilities, among other things. None of it has materialised in Sadullapur, according to residents.

What is the condition of Sadullapur village today?


Residents say the village's condition is at its worst during the monsoon season, when the dirt roads turn to slush and become nearly impassable. Manhole covers in the bylanes have either sunk into the ground or gone missing entirely. Broken drain culverts sit alongside RCC pipes that were left abandoned by the roadside.

GNIDA dug up the village's main access road four years ago to lay a sewer line and never restored it, residents said. For more than two years, they have submitted written complaints to GNIDA seeking restoration of the road. The complaints have not yielded results.

"This is an urban village located in a busy city area, close to Greater Noida West. Look around, and all you can see are highrises. But see the condition of this place," resident Prabhanshu Nagar told the Times of India.

He also pointed to the village's only pond, where GNIDA began work last year after promising a tiled walkway around it. What was built instead was an iron net. The mud banks, he said, keep breaking and sliding into the water, and during the rains the banks and the pond become indistinguishable from each other.

Why does it take an hour to reach the nearest hospital from Sadullapur?

The nearest hospital, a private facility in Greater Noida West, is approximately three kilometres from the village. However, a combination of traffic and broken roads means the journey takes a minimum of sixty minutes, according to residents.

For those who cannot afford private care, the district hospital in Noida is the only alternative, at a distance of 18 kilometres.

Why do some Sadullapur residents want to rename the village?

Faced with what residents described as administrative indifference, a group of villagers last year concluded that the village's name itself was the obstacle to development. They submitted a petition to the state government proposing to rename the village Bharatpur, after the city in Rajasthan from which their ancestors reportedly migrated.

"Every other village has seen development, while we have been submitting requests. Ours is a Hindu-majority village, 98% residents are Hindu here. Then why have a Muslim name? We believed the lack of development was due to the name," said Kamal Nagar, a local realtor backing the proposal.

Sadullapur is believed to be named after Sadullah Khan, a Mughal official who established the settlement.

A group of residents met the Chief Minister in July last year to press for the name change.

Does everyone in Sadullapur support the name change?

Not all residents share this view. Several have said the name change is a distraction from the core issue of missing infrastructure.

"We do not want a new name. We want basic facilities. Our roads are basically mud paths. How will renaming the village change this?" said resident Bhupendra Nagar.

Jagat Raj, 68, who has spent most of his life in the village, said residents are tired of waiting and want real change. "Sadullapur is the identity of this place. We don't want the name to change," he said.

What has GNIDA said about the pending development work?

The name change proposal is now formally in motion. The state government wrote to the Gautam Budh Nagar police commissioner and the sub-divisional magistrate of Dadri on 24 March this year. The revenue department has sought a report and a recommendation to be sent to the divisional commissioner in Meerut.

Dadri tehsildar AK Chaurasiya said the proposal is awaiting a no-objection certificate from GNIDA. "At the tehsil level, all formalities have been completed. Once we receive the NOC, the name change process will move forward," he said.

On the pending infrastructure work, GNIDA senior manager Pradeep Kumar told the Times of India that three development projects in Sadullapur were scheduled to begin in July but were postponed due to the monsoon season and the kanwar yatra route passing through the village.

"Sadullapur has been recognised as a smart village under GNIDA. The planned work includes construction of the main village road and two separate drainage systems," Kumar said.

(With inputs from TOI)