Delhi Government is in the process of notifying 39 villages under South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) as urban villages in the proposed land pooling policy of Delhi Development Authority (DDA).
The Directorate of local Bodies (DlB) has sought permission from Election Commission (EC) in this regard but there was no response from the poll watchdog. DDA had approved a land pooling policy last year. land pooling is a technique in which the small parts of rural land are assembled together, developed with infrastructure and the developed land is redistributed after deducting some part of it as compensation towards infrastructure costs.
DDA is also allocating Rs10 crore annual budget for land pooling. According to DDA, this is a sustainable and efficient technique in which the people are provided with developed land in terms of infrastructure facilities such as roads, lighting, public parks and water sewage system.
The list of 39 villages include Bakkarwala, Baprola, Goela Khurd, Hastal, Qutabpur, Nangli Sakrawati, Nawada Majra, Shafipur Ranhaula, Rajapur Khurd, Tajpur Khurd, Tilangapur Kotla, Asalatpur Khurd, Chhawla, Daryapur Khurd, Daulatpur, Dichaon
Kalan, Hasanpur, Dindarpur, Jaffarpur Kalan, Jaffarpur Hiran Kunda, Jhulijhuli, Kharkhari Jatmal, Kharkhari Nahar, Kharkhari Rond, Khera Dabur, Pandwala Kalan, Paprawat, Pandwala Khurd, Qazipur, Rewla Khanpur, Karangpur, Sherpur Dairy, Ujwa and Roshan Pura.
DDA has identified around 200 villages in which 95 villages will be converted into development areas and 88 villages into urban villages. Many areas like Mehrauli, Bijwasan, Chhatarpur and Matiala have fine potential for housing and infrastructure development.
Mehrauli is located near Gurgaon in the South-West district of Delhi. It has good connectivity to both Gurgaon and Faridabad with availability of land. land pooling in this area will impact its real estate demand to a great extent.
Mehrauli, Bijwasan and Chhatarpur are located close to Gurgaon and IGI Airport. They are even accessible to the Metro. The demand for residential and commercial real estate will be high in this area once they are developed using land pooling method. Ghitorni in West Delhi is located on AH-1 towards Mathura and Agra. It has good connectivity and is located beside the Central Ridge Reserve Forest. With many industrial areas around, this area will see surge in residential real estate after development through land pooling.
According to estimates, these villages together will release around 70,000 acres of real estate in the national Capital. Officials say land pooling has many benefits. Government and DDA will earn revenue by developing and selling the land. Developers and landowners will also pool in their land so that they get all the infrastructural benefits minus the legal wrangles. The whole process is expected to generate developed land for developers and investors to build for housing, commercial and industrial purposes.
The real estate biggies in Delhi have already bought a major chunk of land in these villages before notification of the land pooling policy. The Government machinery and DDA officials say this will help resolve the shortage of housing and provide infrastructure in the area. But fact is the policy was framed to benefit only giant property dealers and developers.
The land Acquisition Act, 2013 came into force in 2014. According to the Act, land acquisition will happen only if more than 80 per cent of land owners acquiesce. land will be returned after development based on the size of land each landowner has pooled in.
The new land policy has reduced the minimum land for pooling from 3 hectares to 2 hectares. Around 40 per cent to 60 per cent of land will get back to the landowner after development. The remaining land will be taken by the Government as a cost for providing infrastructure.
The villages, which are notified as green belts, lal doras (lal doras is a name classification given to that part of the village land, which is part of the village used for non-agricultural purpose but outside the purview of urban municipal body and for common purposes such as livestock feeding etc), forests and unauthorised colonies, according to the NCR Regional Plan, will not be considered for land pooling. In cases where lands with different land uses are pooled in, the whole tract of land will be considered as one and land use determined accordingly.
