Punjab's AAP govt plans staggered land acquisition process for now

The AAP government has decided to stagger the acquisition process under its land pooling policy, restricting it to the areas around big cities, at least for the time being.

The government would first roll out the initiative in and around Ludhiana, Patiala and Mohali, where the policy had been successfully implemented for over a decade now.

The smaller towns, where the government proposed to acquire land under the initiative, would be spared for now.

Around 1,000 acres have already been acquired in Mohali and 300 acres in Ludhiana.

“In Patiala, around 80 acres have been offered for land pooling. Another 50 acres are in the process of being pooled. Thus, we have decided to first acquire land here, showcase the policy as a win-win opportunity for farmers and then take it to other towns,” said a senior functionary in the government.

Requesting anonymity, the functionary said the entire opposition to the policy was based on the premise that the AAP government had introduced it.

“In fact, the land being acquired had been earmarked in master plans prepared for 24 towns/cities between 2008 and 2016. The government is only implementing the master plans now, based on the current needs of the people,” said the functionary.

“We are following the doctrine of government in continuum. What was started then, after assessing the need for urbanisation, is being implemented now. Punjab has to move from an agrarian to industrial or service sector economy. When industrial investors come to Punjab, we need to offer them land. Thus, we need to have land banks,” said Chief Secretary KAP Sinha.

“There have been instances where big ticket investors like Dubai-based Aqua Bridge shifted to Uttar Pradesh because of non-availability of land in Punjab. Once we have land banks, we can offer land at reasonable prices to such investors who will give a boost to Punjab’s economy,” said Sinha.

Acquisition at 24 places

The Punjab Government had planned to acquire 65,533 acres, 46,861 acres in Ludhiana alone, through land pooling.

The policy has been successfully implemented in Mohali for over a decade.

The 24 places where the land is to be acquired are include Ludhiana, Mohali, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Mansa, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Nakodar, Kapurthala, Phagwara, Sultanpur Lodhi, Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur, Jagraon, Samrala, Ferozepur, Moga, Patiala, Sangrur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Rajpura and Ropar.