Gods in the commons: Noida’s norms ‘on paper’, temples on the ground

On a bright February morning in Sector 15-A, one of Noida’s oldest and most affluent neighbourhoods, around 50 residents gathered in Vrindavan Park for what they called a picnic. They carried posters asking to protect the environment and wore T-shirts that read, “Let the parks be.” The amenities surrounding them – a synthetic-floor basketball court, a swimming pool, a club – spoke to the comfortable lives of those who live here. 

There was a dispute that brought them out: a group of residents, backed by their RWA, had approached the Noida Authority to request that a portion of this park be set aside for a temple. The authority had agreed, carving out a 300-square-metre plot and inviting bids for its auction as a religious site. 

Other residents – the ones now gathered in the park – had responded by filing a petition in the Allahabad High Court to have the auction stayed. What divided this largely Hindu, upper-middle-class enclave was the question of whether a community park built in 1981 should become a temple in 2024.

Sector 15-A is not a story about one park or one temple. It is a window into something that has been quietly reshaping the social geography of urban India’s newest residential colonies – the slow, sometimes forceful conversion of shared space into sacred space, from Sector 137 to Sector 75 to Greater Noida’s Tech Zone 4.

There is a pattern that is sustained, in part, by a governance gap. Under the Uttar Pradesh Apartment (Promotion of Construction, Ownership and Maintenance) Act, 2010, a temple can only be built in a housing society after the Apartment Owners Association (AOA) holds a general body meeting and secures the approval of residents. In practice, Rajesh Sahay, Secretary General of the Noida Federation of Apartment Owner Associations (NOFAA), acknowledges, this process is routinely bypassed. “There are a few societies where the builder provides the temple in the beginning itself. But there have also been cases where due to the lack of an AOA, some residents take on the responsibility of constructing a temple,” he says. Even where an AOA exists, he adds, the authority can only intervene if someone files a formal complaint. “Otherwise, there is no action.”

‘We prefer the green cover’

The Sector 15-A dispute is by now widely reported.

Resident Siddhant Bhagwat Sharma, who has lived there for 25 years, said: “Over 95 percent residents here are Hindu. No one has a problem with a temple. But we prefer the green cover over any structure.” 

Temple supporter Shivani Chaturvedi, a resident since 1998, objected: “Why is the issue of trees and environment only being raised when there is a question of a temple?” 

Trust secretary Abhinav Jain, whose Sanatan Dharm Seva Samiti applied for the auctioned plot, blamed the opposition on property anxiety: “It is a difference of ideology. They feel beggars will come and garbage will be spread and ultimately, their house prices will go down.” Another resident alleged a political dimension, claiming a target of 128 temples had been set across Noida and Greater Noida ahead of the 2027 elections – an allegation the trust denied.

On February 27, a Division Bench of the Allahabad High Court comprising Justice Mahesh Chandra Tripathi and Justice Kunal Ravi Singh directed the Noida Authority to file a detailed affidavit placing all relevant records before the court. The matter continues to be heard. 

Most incidents across Noida’s housing societies never travel this far.

The idol that stayed

Just days before the Sector 15-A protest gained traction, a video from Mahagun Maple in Sector 50 went viral. During Kartik Purnima – the full moon festival observed in October-November – an idol had been placed in the society’s common courtyard. Weeks later, it was still there. 

When a group of residents proposed converting the spot into a permanent temple, others objected, and the standoff drew a visit from Naib Tehsildar Pragya Sharma. Her statement to the assembled residents, captured on video and widely shared, pointed out what due process is supposed to look like.

“The idol cannot be kept here,” she told them. “It will only be installed after proper permission. This is a democracy. If something is done with due consent and no one has a problem, it is fine. But even if a single person objects, you have to follow the rules and regulations.”

AOA member Ajay Kapoor told Newslaundry the matter had been overstated. “Everything is calm and peaceful in the society,” he said, declining to say more. But a resident claimed discussions between the two sides are ongoing.

‘Can beat up anyone’

In Sector 137 – home to two such episodes – the social cost of speaking up has proved higher. 

At Gulshan Vivante, a resident was filmed objecting to a Mahashivratri pooja being held inside the premises last month, raising concerns about what she called illegal encroachment. The video spread quickly on social media, with Hindutva groups asking the police to take action against the woman. 

The outrage against the resident projected her not as pro-rules but anti-Hindu, leading DCP Central Noida to reply in comments, stating: “The concerned video/incident has been assigned to the Assistant Commissioner of Police-3, Central Noida, for investigation. Necessary action will be ensured after the inquiry.”

When Newslaundry contacted ACP-3 Central Noida, Rakesh Pratap Singh, he said that a case has been registered and that investigation is ongoing. 

What had been missed in the whole episode, however, was how a Hanuman temple had been constructed overnight in the same society in 2024, without a consensus within the AOA, according to a first-person account published by The Wire. 

A few kilometres away, in Paras Tierea, a resident who asked not to be named described what happened during the construction of a temple in October 2023. “The structure began with a single Hanuman idol,” he said. “Then more idols were added. Some residents contributed up to Rs 3 lakh per idol.” 

The temple was built right at the society gate, he alleged, requiring trees to be cut. He shared photographs showing two transplanted trees that died within three months of being relocated. “We protested against it when trees were cut,” he claimed, “but no one wants to speak against this since we have to stay here and these people are capable of beating anyone up.”

Inside the temple, there is a banner seeking donations with several phone numbers. When Newslaundry called one of these numbers, a resident named Aishwarya, who has lived in the society since 2015, deflected the question of legality. “Can a temple ever be illegal?” he asked. “Why are you not doing a story on the mosques? If you do a story on that then I’ll know you’re not targeting one religion only.” 

He denied encroachment. “The land was taken from the builder in 2023 itself.”

The builder and the AOA have not responded to Newslaundry’s queries.

Built despite local objections

In Panchsheel Pratishtha in Sector 75, residents began tweeting about a temple being built in the central park in September 2023, tagging the Noida Authority. Three months later, in December 2023, the temple was fully built. 

“We already had a temple in the society,” a resident claimed. “We tried raising our voice but we got no response from the Noida authority. Some people expressed their opposition to it, some didn’t. But once it was constructed what can we do?”

Varun Elwadhi, who was the treasurer of the AOA when the construction happened, said the temple was not officially built by the AOA but rather by a group of “volunteers who took this initiative”. There was already a temple in the housing complex but it was only for a certain group, he said. “Since there was no agreement here, it was decided that a separate temple will be constructed in the central park.”

Elwadhi also said the central park was not under the purview of the AOA as all green parks in Sector 75 had been allotted to real estate group AMG for caretaking purposes.

This was confirmed by AMG director Amit Kumar, who said the company had even complained to the Noida authority but “nobody wants to take any action when a temple is concerned”. “Similarly, several societies have built temples in this manner.” 

Kumar said, “AMG was allotted 6 lakh sq m of which 35 percent is green area and roads, 50 percent, that is 3 lakh sq m is dedicated to group housing. The rest is for commercial and institutional use. Out of 3 lakh sq m, an area around 20,000 sq m was identified for group housing. This area was then divided and given to separate builders.”

He said every township has an area for a temple but such a spot meant for the Panchsheel township had been encroached upon in Sarfabad, about 1 km from the society. “Even for Noida authority to give that area for a temple, they will have to demolish encroachments. But if they try doing that, the whole village will come together. That is why residents of Panchsheel built the temple in the green park.”

Meanwhile, one of the residents who objected to the construction in 2023 said everyone visits the temple now. 

Demolition becomes difficult once structures become permanent 

When Newslaundry visited the Noida authority headquarters, officials said that no survey on illegal religious constructions, especially in private housing societies, had been conducted. Most of the societies with such disputes did not have a religious site demarcated in their masterplan.

A 2025 study titled “A Study on Encroachment by Religious Institutions on Public Lands,” published in the Indian Journal of Legal Review, noted that many such structures begin informally – with small shrines or idols or markings on a tree – before expanding into permanent religious sites. 

Government affidavits cited in the study show the scale of the issue nationwide, including around 77,453 unauthorised religious structures identified in Tamil Nadu, 58,253 in Rajasthan, 51,624 in Madhya Pradesh, 17,385 in Maharashtra, and about 16,834 in Bihar, many located on public land or public spaces. The figures for Uttar Pradesh were unavailable. 

Urban sociologist Amita Baviskar, professor of environmental studies and sociology at Ashoka University, says the emergence of temples in residential colonies reflects broader changes in how public space is used in north Indian cities.

“Public space and cultural life in north Indian urban neighbourhoods have become more segregated and saturated by dominant religious and caste codes, from colony WhatsApp groups to the imposition of vegetarianism. Temples are a part of this trend,” she said.

Baviskar adds that planned cities such as Noida often make inadequate provision for places of worship. “So in Hindu-majority neighbourhoods, temples come up on public land. These encroachments are often encouraged by residents themselves. They offer convenient spaces for prayers and ritual gatherings, allow people to express devotion through donations, and sometimes enable powerful individuals to capture land.”

The temple that survived a demolition order

The limits of civic authority are most starkly illustrated by what happened at Supertech Ecociti in Sector 137. In May 2022, a small temple was constructed near the front gate using metal sheets. The Noida Authority issued a demolition order in August that year. Residents who supported the temple made their case to the authority. Four years on, the temple stands, properly constructed, with a railing surrounding it.

Newslaundry is yet to receive a response to a questionnaire sent to the Noida Authority and the builder group.

The asymmetry became sharper the following year. In 2023, Muslim residents organised Taraweeh prayers during Ramzan in the society’s party hall, having obtained permission from the estate manager. Some residents objected and called the police. Officers who arrived cited Section 144 prohibitory orders then in force, requiring a separate police permit. The prayers were halted. The temple, built without authorisation and in defiance of a demolition notice, was not.

There was an identical outcome in Nirala Estate Phase 1 in Greater Noida’s Tech Zone 4.

In August 2023, some residents sought to build a temple. The builder, Nirala Infratech Pvt. Ltd., wrote to residents explaining that the approved layout contained no provision for one and directed them to seek permission from the Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA). A group of opposing residents separately wrote to GNIDA, flagging that construction had already begun – near parking areas, Tower 7, and an IGL gas pipeline.

GNIDA inspected on October 4, confirmed the structure had no sanction, and issued a notice directing its removal within seven days. But when Newslaundry visited Nirala Estate three years later, the temple was fully operational.

Leenu Sehgal, General Manager (Planning) at GNIDA, said, “The allottees were constructing the temple there but despite our notice, they did not stop.” When asked about demolition, her answer was candid: “How can we demolish a temple? We tried stopping them but they did not listen. Even the builder had supported us saying that the temple shouldn’t be constructed without approval. But the allottees kept on going.”

“There are n-number of cases like this. An issue like this comes every day. People are constructing religious structures themselves. We are trying our best to follow the rules but our staff is limited. In contrast, the number of residents and societies are rapidly increasing. And they don’t listen.”

For now, the Vrindavan Park picnic spot is a pending case in the Allahabad High Court. In Sector 75, the central park temple that residents tweeted about for three months before it was finished is there to stay. A woman who objected at the time said it best: “Once it was constructed, what can you do?”

Names of several residents have been withheld as they cited fears of local backlash.