Uttar Pradesh government has decided to take over the JPSI (Jaypee Sports International Ltd) Sports City in Noida on Yamna Expressway in order to house the migrants fleeing to the state from nearby Delhi. The migrants will be provided with food and shelter in the township. An order for the same has been issued by the District Magistrate of Gautam Buddh Nagar district, asking officials to take over the buildings and other resources in the township.

Source: Shiv Aroor/Twitter

The JPSI sports city was an ambitious sports complex of the Jaypee group that included India’s only Formula-1 track. The project also planned to include a cricket stadium, a hockey area, a sports training academy and infrastructure for other sports. But due to financial troubles, the project could not be concluded, although it had hosted two Formula 1 races in 2011 and 2012.

In December last year, Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) decided to take back 1,000 hectares of land it had leased out to beleaguered Jaypee Group. The YEIDA had taken this decision after the group defaulted on payments for the lease. Moreover, the group also could not complete the residential units, resulting in the money of hundreds of homebuyers who had booked houses in the project stuck.

While the project was planned with 16 real estate projects, 5 of them were completed, and the rest 11 were incomplete. The authority had said that it would take possession of the land and complete the residential units so that they can be handed over to owners.

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Later, The National Company Law Tribunal had approved the proposal of state-owned construction firm NBCC (India) Ltd to acquire the debt-ridden township developer Jaypee Infratech Ltd, a subsidiary of Jaypee group. YEIDA has already started the process of auctioning the property to recover its dues. While Jaypee group has filed a petition in Allahabad High Court asking to retain the project, and the case is at the High Court now.

Over the past few days, hundreds and thousands of migrants had gathered at Delhi-UP border in order to travel to their villages and towns in Uttar Pradesh. They were egged on by the Delhi Government and authorities in Delhi who cut off their water and electricity supply. Rumours were also spread that buses were waiting for them at the UP Border ready to drop individuals to their locations.

In a video shared by BJP leader Kapil Mishra, one can hear announcements being made in colonies informing migrants from UP and Bihar that Delhi government-run DTC buses will take them to the Anand Vihar bus terminal. One can hear the person making the announcement saying that from Anand Vihar ISBT, they will be able to get the buses to take them further to UP and Bihar. This, when most of the state governments had already sealed their borders and banned commercial vehicles to ply.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Yogi Adityanath was reportedly awake late into the night overlooking arrangements for the stranded migrants. The Uttar Pradesh government had later said that these migrant workers will be ferried home to their respective villages free of cost but will be screened for the novel coronavirus first.