New Delhi: Away from the periphery of Delhi’s borders, a section of owners in urban villages earmarked for the land pooling policy of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is going ahead with construction in violation of rules.
This was acknowledged by none other than DDA officials, who confirmed that such constructions were “unauthorised”, and that “any development” in such areas has to be executed by meeting the eligibility criteria mentioned in the Land Pooling Policy notified in 2013. was to be done.
Under the policy, landowners or their groups pool land parcels for development as per prescribed norms and guidelines. In total, 105 urban villages – divided into six zones spread across 129 sectors – were identified for land pooling in Delhi.
The primary reason for such illegal constructions is that the land pooling policy has remained a non-starter on the land due to two eligibility criteria that landowners have struggled to meet – minimum 70 per cent landowner participation and 70 per cent contiguous land which is free. Of encroachments.
ThePrint visited Garhi Khusro and Kadipur, located 20 km from central Delhi, on Wednesday and found that unauthorized construction was going on unabated in these two urban villages located in Sector 12-B and 12-C of Zone P-II.
Bhupendra Bajad, who heads the master plan committee of the Delhi Dehat Vikas Manch (an association of landlords based in land-pooling villages), took ThePrint to a housing colony that is coming up in Gadi Khusro and Kadipur villages in north Delhi .
While some houses have already been constructed, some have been partially constructed along the internal roads – like a housing colony. Property dealers’ offices that had been left neglected were among the structures that have sprung up in the area.
“The DDA is aware that unauthorized constructions are taking place in land pooling villages, but action on their part has been minimal and illegal constructions are rampant,” Bajad told ThePrint.
Narendra Kundu, another zamindar villager, attributed these illegal constructions to constraints in DDA policy.
“Several announcements have been made regarding amendments to remove policy hurdles, but they are yet to be implemented. This only adds to the delay, due to which more land owners will lose interest to participate in land pooling,” lamented Kundu, who has 10 acres of land in the nearby village of Akbarpur Majra.
Then there are residents like Rajbir Rana, whose family jointly owns 27 acres of land in Sector 12-C, who believe unauthorized constructions pose a threat to the area’s prospects in view of the planned development.
“Unlike these two areas, the scale of unauthorized construction in my village is relatively low, however, we fear that once other areas reach near saturation due to encroachments, our village may also face a similar fate Will have to,” said Raghunandan, who owns seven acres of land in Tigipur village in Sector 1.
ThePrint reached out to the vice-chairman of the DDA and its land management department via email, but did not receive an official response. This report will be updated upon receipt of a response.
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policy constraints
Notified in 2013 and revised in 2018, the land pooling policy aimed to address Delhi’s growing housing needs by providing 17 lakh housing units for a population of around 80 lakh.
As per the policy, 60 per cent of the deposited land is earmarked for the landowners to develop residential projects, while the rest will be handed over to the DDA for the development of roads, parks and other infrastructure.
While the earlier role of the DDA included that of a developer, the 2018 notification saw a change to the role of a facilitator. The onus is on the landowners to meet the eligibility criteria for land pooling. Since 2019, out of a total of 19,074 hectares of land, 7,452 hectares have been pooled through landowners expressing their willingness to participate in the scheme.
“There is growing impatience among land owners due to the long term being a non-starter policy. As a result, they have been forced to sell or deal with their land for unauthorized development. In the current scenario, unauthorized constructions are increasing rapidly in various land pooling areas,” said a senior DDA official on condition of anonymity.
To address the woes of landowners like Azad and Kundu, amendments to the Delhi Development Act, 1957 were announced by Union Housing Minister Hardeep Puri in March 2022 – ahead of the then-cancelled MCD elections – to remove policy hurdles to do.
The proposed amendments include making land pooling mandatory if a minimum participation rate of 70 per cent is achieved. Another amendment provides powers to the central government to declare land pooling mandatory even if two minimum eligibility criteria are not achieved.
In May last year, the DDA launched a parallel strategy, which was also announced by Puri. This includes issuing conditional notices for land pooling in areas where at least 70 per cent landowner participation has been achieved, but a minimum of 70 per cent contiguous land is yet to be ensured.
The provisional notices were given on the condition that the landowners would ensure minimum 70 per cent contiguous land. According to a senior DDA official, out of 14 notices issued since May 2022, a total of three consortiums have been formed.
Former DDA commissioner (planning) AK Jain, a critic of the policy who has called for it to be reworked, said the encroachment was also due to poor enforcement by the agency.
“Eventually it was going to happen because the policy has not hit the ground. I have seen many urban villages where unauthorized constructions are taking place, and this has resulted in disturbances as unauthorized constructions are being left unchecked,” said Jain.
(Edited by Tony Rae)
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