Till December 2020, applications were received to pool 6,445.35 hectares of land. Over Three years since the Delhi Development Authority’s (DDA) land pooling policy was notified in 2018, to consolidate parcels of land and use it for planned residential and commercial development in urban villages, the response to repeated calls for registration has not been encouraging. Landowners who have already applied too are beginning to turn skeptical about the avowed benefits of the policy.
Till December 2020, applications were received to pool 6,445.35 hectares of land. In the latest application window, the portal for applications was opened up on November 10, 2021, for 104 villages, including nine villages for which applications are being sought for the first time. The deadline for registering, which was initially on December 24, 2021, was later extended till February 28. The pamphlet extending the date of application states that 7,262 hectares of land is registered under the scheme
However, the response to the new application window has not been encouraging, a senior DDA official said. “Since we opened up applications this time, we have received around 200 for around 250 hectares of land. We are not in favour of opening the window for applications again. In sectors where over 70% of the land has been pooled, we need to issue notices for consortium formation so that there is some confidence among the public that something is happening on ground,” the official said.
Once 70% of the vacant area has been pooled in a sector, consortiums are to be formed. As per the policy, the consortium will retain 60% of the land and hold the remaining 40% on behalf of the DDA. “For integrated planning of a sector, the land required for the development of roads, utilities, greens and other infrastructure shall be made available to the DDA and service-providing agencies for development…”, going by the policy. Around 60% of the land will be used by the consortium to develop residential, commercial, and public facilities. Landowners can form these consortiums with private developers or builders.
“We have submitted the files to issue notices for consortium formation for three sectors. Once the consortium is formed, proposals can be submitted for the land,” the official said.
Till December 2020, 10 sectors had received applications to pool over 70% of vacant land, though notices have not yet been issued to form consortiums. Verification of the land applied for in these sectors has been underway.
Landowners agree that confidence in the policy has been waning since it has not seen much progress.
Mahender Singh, who owns around 6.5 acres of agricultural land in Daryapur Kalan village and had applied for land pooling, said he was still unsure about how it was going to proceed. “There is no clarity about the charges we will have to pay, or how the policy might benefit small farmers,” he said. The policy mentions that external development charges (EDC) will be applicable to the entire area of pooled land to cover the cost of providing city-level infrastructure. But how much will have to be paid is not clear, Singh said.
Daryapur Kalan, in Northwest Delhi, lies in Zone N, where applications were received to pool 3,014.54 hectares of land till December 2020, the highest in any zone so far.
“How is the policy going to benefit the village when it lacks basic amenities? There is no community centre, there are no proper roads or a proper bus stand,” said Krishan Dutt, who owns around 7 bighas of land in Daryapur Kalan, and did not apply.
Some landowners, who applied in the first application window in 2019, have second thoughts about allowing their land to be pooled. “If the charges that we are required to pay are high, people with small landholdings will not be able to pay. Since a part of the land will be taken away from us free of cost, why demand a development charge from the farmer? We should be able to get some commercial and residential area out of our own agricultural land so that we don’t lose out,” said Devinder Singh, who owns land in Nangal Thakran and has rented it out to a farmer. He applied in the first window, but several people did at first expecting that it would be beneficial for the village, he said.
On the lack of clarity on charges to be paid by landowners, the official said that an amendment to the DDA Act is in the offing, and is awaiting approval. “The amendment includes a chapter on land pooling. We are hoping that the amendment will be sent to the Law Ministry this financial year. Major apprehensions are likely to be addressed through the amendment, like paying the EDC by handing over extra land instead of cash, and imposing stamp duty just once instead of multiple times,” the official said.
According to Paras Tyagi, Centre for Youth, Culture, Law and Environment, an NGO working in these villages, work will have to be done on developing the villages themselves and ensuring that there is a development plan for them, rather than just for the pooled land. “We will need a village development plan to deal with the housing and other facilities of the village itself. We can then have a planned village as well as a planned sector. Landless farmers will also have to be factored in,” he said.
Bhupender Bazad of the Delhi Dehat Vikas Munch said the response to the new application window has been poor since not much has happened since the policy was notified and there has been little progress on the ground. “The amendment to the DDA Act is yet to be passed. The EDC also looks like a big expense for the layman. Gram Sabha land is being given free of cost to the DDA. When this is the case, why must the landowner pay again,” he said.
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