DNA Micro Edit: Land-pooling policy a distant dream for Capital

Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal’s latest move on the land-pooling policy to convert 89 village areas to urban areas seems to be a distant dream for Delhiites who have been searching for space in the city.

It was in 2015 that the DDA had cleared the Land Pooling Policy. But the project could not take off until now as the identified agricultural lands were to be declared ‘urbanisable’. According to estimates, the city will have more 25 lakh housing units in the next 10 years.

Under the plan, DDA has recognised close to 20,000 hectares of land to be developed in north, northwest, west and some parts of southwest Delhi, spanning 89 villages. According to DDA, even if half of this area is developed under land pooling, it would be sufficient to meet Delhi’s housing needs.

With 18.98 million population, Delhi has approximately 77,000 acres of land in urban villages across the city and out of this, around 40,000 acres will be developed as ‘development areas’. The population, which is increasing day-by-day, will need more space.

Though the plan looks good on paper, implementation seems to be a bit difficult. The farmers who are giving their land will get return varying from 40-60 per cent depending upon the size of the land. On the remaining land, the DDA will come up with the housing projects on their own choice of private players.

Coordination between the authority, private players and the owners will have to be managed properly to make this project possible.