Amid complaints from stakeholders over land pooling policy, Delhi Development Authority Vice-Chairman Tarun Kapoor tells Shinjini Ghosh that even though a proper timeline cannot be given for the launch of the project, the urban body is hopeful of getting more registrations and completing aggregation of land in at least three sectors.
There are complaints from stakeholders pertaining to the fragmentation of land due to the sector-wise division introduced by the amended policy. How does the DDA plan to deal with this?
Some people had approached me as well regarding the fragmentation of their land due to the sector-wise plans. I have asked them to exchange their land with someone who has land in the same sector. They can also participate in two sectors. This is something that is bound to happen as someone might not own a chunk of land in a particular sector.
But the 2013 version of the policy had plans for zonal division of land and it was only later that the sector-wise division was added…
The sectors are huge and each sector comprises around 200 to 400 hectares of land. If we try to aggregate for the entire zone then people will have to wait for a very long time. The entire land pooling area is huge with around 100 sectors in it. So if we wait for full zones to come together then it will delay the entire process and people will start criticising the authorities. Even now they are saying that aggregating land in a particular sector is taking time as the area within one sector is huge in itself.
A minimum of 70% contiguous land is required to be eligible for development and no sector yet has that amount of land. As August 4 is the last date for registrations, what are you planning to do about it?
If this criterion is not met in even one sector then we will have to take stock of the situation and take a decision. We will have to give more time. This deadline is only a milestone for us to take stock of things. We very well understand that aggregation of entire land pooling areas cannot take place so soon.
In three sectors, we have around 30% and we need to reach 70%. If we have 30% now, then it becomes attractive and I know that a lot of people are holding back despite having aggregated land at their level. Therefore, we are hopeful that at least in these three to four sectors we will have sufficient land and participation very soon.
When can the people expect the project to finally kick off considering this is their chance to own a Delhi address?
It is difficult to say but I am very hopeful, especially because so many registrations have taken place. There is a lot of interest coming in and I am hopeful that we will move fast, at least in a few sectors.
