Govt to bring amendments to land pooling policy: Union Minister Hardeep Puri

Mar 08,2022

The Centre has also framed the Additional Development Control Norms for unauthorised colonies.

The government plans to bring amendments to the land pooling policy to resolve residual difficulties faced in its implementation, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said on March 8.

Land Pooling Scheme will benefit another 75 lakh people, the minister said.

The Centre has also proposed changes to the Additional Development Control Norms for unauthorised colonies, he said.

The two-pronged strategy is being worked out as a way forward for implementation of the Land Pooling Policy, he said.

The land pooling policy is aimed at meeting the growing housing demand by providing close to 17 lakh dwelling units in 95 urbanised villages located in the urban extension of the city.

The DDA Land Pooling Policy was notified in 2018 and is aimed at fostering land development in partnership with landowners, making them equal partners in the development process.

The minister said that more than 400,000 registrations have been completed by DDA under PM-UDAY. As many as 12,009 Conveyance Deeds and Authorisation Slips have been issued.

The Pradhan Mantri UDAY Yojana is a Central scheme to authorise the illegal colonies of the national capital. More than 40 lakh people in Delhi live in authorised colonies.

The ‘Jahan Jhuggi Wahan Makan' Scheme for in-situ slum rehabilitation will benefit more than 50 lakh people by offering pucca homes to those living in informal settlements in Delhi. Three projects in Kalkaji, Jailorwala Bagh and Kathputli colony comprising 8,000 houses are already in progress.

The Land Pooling Policy for Delhi was notified in 2018, and under the said policy / regulations, the entire Notified Land Pooling area is divided into 129 sectors. Each sector is about 100-200 Ha. The portal for showing willingness to participate has been opened five times since the launch of Land Pooling Policy and the last date of closing of the fifth window was February 28, 2022.

So far, owners of 36 percent of the land area in land pooling area have shown willingness to pool land, the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry said.

As many as 16 priority sectors have been identified in land pooling areas wherein around 70 percent (or more) area have been pooled (i.e. owners have shown willingness to participate in the land pooling. In four sectors - Sector 10, Zone N, Sectors 2 and 3 in Zone P-II and Sec 3 in Zone L, around 70 percent or more land has been registered and verified for the formation of the consortium.

However, in spite of having achieved 70 percent, there are khasra(s) in the pooled land that are under multiple ownership, and where all the owners have not indicated their willingness to participate in land pooling. Due to this ‘part participation’, none of the sectors is ‘absolutely contiguous’, even the sectors where land parcel meets the 70 percent criteria. This is a major obstacle in moving ahead with the implementation of the policy, the ministry said.

To resolve the bottleneck, a two-pronged strategy has been worked out as a way forward for the implementation of the policy.

A major recommendation is that once the minimum threshold of 70 percent voluntary land pool area is achieved in a sector, it shall be obligatory for all landowners of the sector i.e. the balance 30 percent, to mandatorily pool their land. Keeping in view that the proposed amendments will have to follow the due legislative process, which will take time, a second pronged strategy has also been worked out, the ministry said.

It has been decided that DDA will issue conditional notice for the formation of consortium for the eligible sectors (where 70 percent land is pooled), stating that the consortium would ensure proper contiguity of all the partially participated khasras at the time of filing the implementation plan.

For ensuring holistic, smart, sustainable strategy for planning and development of these sectors in land pooling areas, DDA has proposed certain modifications in the existing notified policy as Additional Development Control Norms (ADCs) which recognises the unique characteristics and varying potential for the development of land pooling sectors.

The norms proposed offer flexibility for innovative sector designs and are based on certain fundamental planning principles so as to create vibrant, people-centric, livable, smart and sustainable developments, the ministry said.

Proposed ADCs include high intensity mixed (400 FAR) use development along major transportation corridors. It has proposed the introduction of Vertical Mixing of uses first time in Delhi, e.g. residential, public and semi-public (PSP), and commercial can be in the same building, priority for walkability and enhanced open spaces in sectors.

Amendments have also been proposed in the PM-UDAY regulations.

Vacant government land parcels can be earmarked / reserved for the creation of supporting social and physical infrastructure for unauthorised colonies (UC) regeneration/redevelopment and pave the way for regularisation of UCs, the ministry said.

Vacant land parcels can be utilised for the creation of parks, schools, hospitals / dispensary for the benefit of residents of UCs.

Will not be mandatory

Officials said that many applicants under PM-UDAY are not in possession of a valid ‘Will’ document. As on March 4, 2022, around 1,000 applications under PM-UDAY have been kept under abeyance due to unavailability of valid ‘Will’ or ‘Gift Deed’ documents.

The proposed amendment for not treating valid ‘Will’ as a mandatory document will resolve the grievance of applicants whose applications have been kept on hold due to the absence of valid Will, they said, adding it will speed up the process of disposal of cases and will facilitate in increasing the number of Conveyance Deed (CD) /Authorisation Slip (AS).

With this more residents of UCs will get encouraged to apply and avail benefits under the scheme thereby increasing the number of applications, they said.