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Punjab to adopt Gujarat-type land pooling technique

A ‘win-win’ situation for land owners: Minister

Chandigarh: To avoid protests over farm land acquisition, the Punjab Government on Monday said it had in principle agreed to adopt the Gujarat model of land pooling technique in urban areas under which farmers will pool a chunk of their land and government would take care of its development.

It would be a “win-win” situation for land owners, Local Government Minister Manoranjan Kalia told a press conference here.

In a bid to avoid protests by farmers when their land is acquired by the Government for various projects, the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP regime plans to acquire land from farmers with their consent, and out of the total land acquired 60 per cent would be returned to the farmer after being fully developed and that too in the shape of plots, he said.

The farmer could sell his 60 per cent land share as and when he wants. He can even sell it after constructing house on plots allotted to him against his share but within the ambit of the master plan as drawn for a particular area, said Mr. Kalia.

“It’s going to be a win-win situation for the farmers. There are always some accusations made by them that they were hoodwinked into selling land at a particular price while the same land later commands a very high price,” the Minister said, adding, “to do away with this, we are studying the Gujarat model of land pooling”.

While the Government will be creating an “asset” for the farmers, this step will mean that the role of private developers will be reduced and mushrooming of unauthorised colonies will be checked, Mr. Kalia added. – PTI.

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