To make the Land Pooling Policy more attractive for those giving up their property voluntarily for development projects, Punjab Government has decided to give additional land as compensation to such persons, while coming out with a similar new policy for the industrial sector.
The decision was taken by the Cabinet on Wednesday while approving the amendment to the Land Pooling Policy in respect of residential sector, and its extension to the industrial sector in the jurisdiction of the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA).
The move comes as GMADA gets ready to acquire 1680 acres of land in the first phase for the development of the Aerotropolis estate. The policy change will also facilitate development of industrial estate in Sectors 101 and 103 in SAS Nagar (Mohali) by easing the process of acquisition of land for timely execution of development projects.
Under GMADA’s amended Land Pooling Policy, 1000 square yards of developed residential plots and 200 square yards of commercial plot, excluding parking, will be given in lieu of cash compensation for every one acre of land to be acquired from land owners for the upcoming Aerotropolis Residential Estate.
Introduced for industrial sector development for the first time, the Land Pooling Policy will, in this case, provide that for every one acre of land, land owners will get 1100 square yards of industrial plots and 200 square yards of developed commercial plot, excluding parking, in lieu of cash compensation.
PUNJAB TO RECRUIT 305 WARDERS DIRECTLY FOR JAILS THROUGH PPRB
Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday okayed the direct recruitment to fill 305 posts of warders through the Punjab Police Recruitment Board by taking these posts out of the purview of Subordinate Services Selection Board. The decision would be instrumental in improving the prison management by providing adequate manpower in jails, and the entire process of recruitment would be completed within four months.
Punjab’s jails currently have more than 24,000 convicts or undertrials. However, there is shortage of requisite staff for supervising these convicts. The paucity of staff is being felt more acutely since the Nabha jail break incident of November 27, 2016, and needs to be beefed up to check recurrence of such incidents, the Cabinet felt. The high-powered committee constituted to probe the Nabha jail break incident had also identified shortage of staff in the jails as a major cause of the incident.
WB-SUPPORTED 285.71 MILLION USD CANAL WATER SUPPLY PROJECT FOR AMRITSAR, LUDHIANA APPROVED
World Bank supported 285.71 million US dollar project for canal based water supply has been approved for Amritsar and Ludhiana cities with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) financing 200 million US dollars (70 percent) and Punjab Government 85.71 million US Dollars (30 percent) as per the proposal mooted by the state’s Local Government Department for adoption of Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) under Punjab Municipal Services Improvement Project.
The project would have four components — strengthening urban and water supply service management, improving water supply infrastructure, besides Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation and Resettlement, COVID crisis response and project management, in addition to Front End Fee.
Spokesperson said that the project would invest in bulk water infrastructure, establish new institutional models for Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) service delivery, and also strengthen financial sustainability and customer orientation in WSS delivery.
Additionally, the project would extend flexible just-in-time resources and capacity support to the Punjab government and Municipal Councils across the State to tackle some of the critical challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, especially strengthening city-level response and focusing on frontline service providers.