It will be a gold mine for farmers

Balvinder Kumar, DDA Vice-Chairman, on why the Land Pooling Policy could add a Midas touch to farmers’ land.

Why should farmers, who are the primary owners of land, surrender it? How does the DDA plan to overcome initial apprehensions?

The land, which will be returned to farmers, will be like a gold mine as they would get fully-developed residential pockets that they can later sell. They can even enter into an agreement with the developer, which could facilitate them for selling the residential units.

Don’t you think the External Development Charge (EDC) will deter people from surrendering plots?

Not at all. It is because of this that we have included the provision of waiving off EDC in lieu of 8 per cent of the developed residential land. Surprisingly, people in the five zones under the policy are aware of existing prices. We are charging an EDC of Rs.1 crore for 1 acre of land, which comes to around Rs.2,500 per square feet. Such rates in Delhi are very cheap and they are aware of it.

How do you connect the policy with the Smart City concept?

Delhi as a whole will be one smart city and the policy will create a bunch of smart sub-cities. The DDA is supposed to provide basic infrastructure in these areas and each aspect of it will be designed on the basis of Smart City norms. For this, we have even appointed JLL, which is advising us on appointing project management consultants. Ensuring 24x7 water supply is going to be an issue, but we are working on alternatives like recycling grey water.