- Land Pooling Policy was announced in 2015 to solve Delhi's Infra & Housing shortage
- Under land pooling 62,000 acres were to be pooled developed, 48-60% of developed land was to be returned to owners
Delhi is bursting at its seams. In the last few decades, Delhi’s population has gone up from 60 lakh to 1.7 crores. By the end of 2021, this population is expected to rise up to 2.5 crores. The big challenge Delhi faces is to accommodate 80 lakh more people with the right kind of housing, supported by adequate social and physical infrastructure.
The land pooling policy announced in 2015 after it was approved by the Union Urban Development Ministry, was supposed to take care of most of these. But for the last two years, it has just remained a policy on paper.
The Delhi government has not yet notified 89 villages as urban areas and 95 villages as urban development areas.
"Why is the government sitting on the file? It's time Delhi government makes its stand clear. I think they are holding up the policy due to some mala fide intent," Vijender Gupta, Leader of Opposition in the Delhi State Assembly said.
"I do not think it is a big issue. They just need to notify something that is already cleared in the Delhi Masterplan. Maybe Delhi government needs to rope in urban planners and domain experts to help them," Ramesh Menon, Founder Director, Certes Realty said.
Delhi government declined to reply on the issue saying any comment from their side would be violating the election code of conduct that is in place because of the upcoming municipal elections. But Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal has recently given May 7, 2017, as the deadline to implement the policy.
Under the policy, landowners would pool their land and give it to Delhi Development Authority (DDA). DDA, in turn, would develop the land by providing roads, parks, power supply and sewage treatment plants and return 48-60 percent of the land to the owners.
About 25,000 hectares or 62,000 acres of land falling in four zones K1, L, P1 and P2 predominantly Dwarka and parts of Narela and North Delhi would be covered under the policy.
Besides infrastructure development, DDA also plans to build about 20 lakh dwelling units in the next 10-15 years in Delhi.
Meanwhile, lakhs of people, with their earnest money invested in these land pooling schemes, are waiting anxiously from the last two years. The builders are sitting on the money of such buyers/investors, who have very little or no option to pull out of the scheme.