Punjab Approves New Land Pooling Policy

Chandigarh, Jun 2 (PTI) The Punjab Cabinet on Monday gave its nod to the Land Pooling Policy with Cabinet minister Aman Arora asserting that not even a single yard will be forcibly acquired from land owners.

The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, was held here.

After the meeting, renewable energy minister Arora slammed the opposition parties for allegedly misleading people about the state government's Land Pooling Policy for the past several days.

Arora claimed that there is no better Land Pooling Policy than this one, not only in the state but also in the country.

Pointing towards the opposition parties, Arora said they were trying to mislead people about the Policy that farmers' land will be forcibly acquired by the state government. "I want to make it clear that not even a single yard will be acquired (by the state government)," he said, adding that the Cabinet approved the Land Pooling Policy.

Under this policy, land owners can give their land either to the state government or a builder or they can develop the land on their own, he said.

In the first phase, this Policy will be implemented in 27 big cities, the minister said while speaking to reporters here.

Attacking the previous governments, Arora alleged that they framed such policies which only benefited the land mafia and promoted vested interests.

Giving details, Arora said under this Policy, a land owner will be given a 1,000 square yards of residential plot and a 200 square yards of commercial plot in fully-developed land in lieu of one acre of land.

He further said if anybody contributes nine acres of land, he will be given three acres of land for developing a group housing. It meant that one-third of pooled land will be returned to the land owner, he said.

Opposition parties and some farmer groups have been targeting the AAP government, claiming that it has proposed to acquire 24,311 acres of land in Ludhiana to develop new urban estates.

The state government had earlier said the Land Pooling Policy was designed to foster transparent and planned urban development across the state.