60 lakh families to benefit as state relaxes land fragmentation law for urban areas

For many years, citizens living in houses built on 5–10 gunthas or even smaller plots in urban and peripheral areas have been facing technical hurdles in getting ownership rights. According to the new amendment, the fragments will be deemed to be regularised in the areas within the limits of urban areas and the peripheral areas where the residential, commercial, industrial or any other non-agricultural use is permissible without charging any premium.

During the discussion on the bill, Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Bhaskar Jadhav said, “We are not supporting the bill for now because there is a possibility that the builder lobby will benefit more than the poor.” Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said, “Merely regularizing plots without approved city development plans won’t suffice; there must also be provision for 9-metre roads and drainage systems.”

Addressing concerns raised by the Opposition MLAs, Bawankule said on the floor of the House, “This law has not been brought to benefit any builder; it is solely to give legal ownership rights to the 60 lakh families in the state who are living on small fragments of land.”

The amendment received widespread support from members across party lines, including MLAs Nana Patole, Suresh Dhas, Pravin Datke, Amit Deshmukh, Rahul Kul, Krishna Khopde, Hiraman Khoskar, Prashant Solankhe, Abhijit Patil, Sanjay Gaikwad, and Ravi Rana.

During the discussion, MLAs Chandradeep Narke, Vikram Pachpute, and Ramesh Bornare demanded that this decision should not be limited only to urban areas but should also be made applicable to rural areas. Members pointed out that in many places, including western Maharashtra, holding capacity is low, causing difficulties in buying and selling land. For now, the bill will not be applicable across all rural areas but can be applied if a residential zone is declared.

With the passage of this amendment, Maharashtra has taken a bold and compassionate step to regularise urban small-plot ownership created contrary to the provisions of Maharashtra Prevention of Fragmentation and Consolidation of Holdings Act and provide long-pending justice to millions of middle-class and lower-middle-class families.