Explained: Punjab’s land pooling policy and its criticism

The policy seeks to check the proliferation of illegal colonies and arrest haphazard urban growth, while ensuring landowners remain stakeholders in development, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has said.

For every 1 acre of land pooled, landowners will get a 1,000 sq yard residential plot and a 200 sq yard commercial plot (1 acre= 4,840 sq yards). In the case of larger contributions, for every 9 acres of pooled land the landowners will get 3 acres of developed land, suitable for group housing. For 50 acres pooled, they will get 30 acres of developed land.

The policy is currently being rolled out in 27 cities across Punjab, in districts such as Ludhiana (24,000 acres targeted), Mohali (6,000 acres), Amritsar (4,464 acres), Jalandhar, Patiala, Bathinda, and Sangrur.

The politics

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab is looking to generate roughly Rs 20,000 to 25,000 crore from the land pooling. With state elections set to take place by March 2027, the government has roughly a year-and-a-half to rule before the model code of conduct kicks in.

Forcible land acquisition is a long process susceptible to arduous legal wrangling. The government anticipates that the voluntary pooling route will cut short the time for land acquisition while simultaneously helping generate funds for the cash-strapped state, sources said.

These funds, sources indicate, might be used to finance the AAP government’s ambitious pre-poll promise of paying a monthly sum of Rs 1,000 to all women in the state.

Experts, however, argue that the policy needlessly diverts fertile agricultural land for urban use. “By diverting almost 40,000 acres from agriculture to cities, we will lose almost 1.50 lakh tons of paddy production. Unfortunately, in most parts, the land is fertile,” one expert told The Indian Express.

Punjab BJP Chief Sunil Jakhar has called this a “ponzi scheme,” and accused the government of exploiting farmers with false promises. SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal has announced statewide protests against the move, calling it a “land-grabbing scheme” designed to raise Rs 10,000 crore through bribes and benefit private developers.

Critics say that the policy, based on the Punjab Regional Town Planning and Development Act, 1995, lacks the safeguards for compensation and resettlement provided under the Central Land Acquisition Act of 2013.