Punjab: New land pooling policy to check splitting of sites for higher award

With the newly unveiled land pooling policy, the Punjab Government hopes to discourage fragmentation of land by doing away with commercial plots in compensation for landholdings that are less than half an acre. The government, however, continues to extend the benefit to farmers offering half an acre or above towards the land bank.

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In a major departure from the existing policy, the government has ended the provision of offering commercial sites to the farmers offering up to 3 kanals. Such farmer/land owner will now get a residential plot only. Under the prevalent policy, the farmers used to get both residential and commercial plots.

However, those offering land from 4 kanals (half an acre) to one acre will continue to get residential and commercial sites under the new policy approved by the Punjab Cabinet on Monday.

Sources said the changes were applicable only for the land being acquired for residential sectors and were aimed at rationalising the land acquisition process for better urban planning.

This is the first time that the government has framed a comprehensive policy for developing bigger chunks of land for residential, industrial, institutional and commercial sectors, and integrated industrial parks.

Since the government has announced that the amended land pooling policy would only be applicable to acquisitions where the land compensation award had been passed after the date of notification of the policy, it is being assumed that it would be applicable to the upcoming land acquisition for Aerotropolis and Eco City-III projects in Mohali and New Chandigarh, respectively.

The land pooling policy was first introduced in the state during the SAD-BJP regime in 2010 with an aim to create a land bank for urban development, mainly for development of residential sectors in Mohali.

As the land policy caught the fancy of the farmers/land owners over the years, it became a common practice to split an acre into multiple one-kanal plots to draw maximum benefit. Earlier, the government offered a 150 sq yard residential plot and a 25 sq yard commercial booth against one kanal of acquired land. In lieu of two kanals, a 250 sq yard residential plot and a 60 sq yard commercial booth were offered, while for three kanals, a 250 sq yard residential and an 85 sq yard commercial site were offered.

The sources said it was seen that the division of an acre into smaller chunks was disturbing the urban planning in residential sectors of Mohali, which were bursting at seams in the wake of large-scale urbanisation. “The development authority ended up giving more small-sized commercial sites to the beneficiaries under the land pooling policy, causing not only financial loss to the state exchequer but also disturbing the layout plans,” said an official in the Housing Department.

The state government rolled out the land pooling policy for 27 urban centres, including the 24,000 acres being acquired in Ludhiana. After being passed by the Cabinet, the Housing Department is expected to issue the notification for the amended policy in the coming days.

PPCC chief Amarinder Raja Warring said the policy should have been brought after taking the stakeholders on board. “The yardstick of offering residential and commercial sites should be same across the board,” he said.

A former Chief Town Planner of Punjab, Gurpreet Singh, said it was a win-win situation for farmers with small landholdings, especially those not having fertile agricultural land. “The policy offers a financial security to small farmers, who are not able to eke out a living from their small landholdings like an acre or less,” he said.

Kesar Singh Bhangoo, former professor of economics and ex-Dean, Punjabi University, Patiala, said the farmers were not going to benefit from the amended policy, adding that it was the responsibility of the state to offer affordable housing to the common man.

Punjab AAP president Aman Arora said, “It is a progressive initiative designed to empower farmers, curb illegal colonies and dismantle the unchecked land mafia operations that thrived under previous governments, including the one led by the Congress. No landowner will be forced to give land. Farmers wishing to continue agricultural activities can do so freely.”