Punjab: Housing Department acquired only 11,000 acres since 2000

As farmers and political parties have raised concern over the acquisition of 63,533 acres in different towns by the AAP-led government, data collected by the Housing Department has revealed that in the last 25 years only 10,967 acres have been acquired by different development authorities. Of these, nearly 8,000 acres have been developed.

On an average, the state government has acquired 440 acres every year for residential and mixed land use. The maximum acquisition of 9,311 acres has been done by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) for Aerocity, Ecocity, Medicity, IT City and Anandpur Sahib Urban Estate. Most of the land was acquired during the SAD-BJP government.

The Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) has acquired 325 acres since 2000, but development work could not be done on this land. The Patiala Development Authority (PDA) has acquired 419 acres, while the Amritsar Development Authority (ADA) acquired 242 acres in 25 years, of which 155 acres had been developed.

Similarly, Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) acquired 185 acres in the last two and a half decades. Of this, about 45 acres had not been developed. The Jalandhar Development Authority (JDA) had acquired 66 acres, of which 60 acres had been developed. The above land has been acquired for residential, commercial and mixed use projects.