In an attempt to revive the dying interest in its land pooling policy, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has issued conditional notices for the formation of consortiums in three high priority sectors falling under zones- N and P-II, where 70% participation of landowners has been achieved.
Once a consortium in a particular sector comes into being, it becomes the consortium’s responsibility to convince the other landowners of that particular sector to pool in their land parcels, so that the minimum threshold of 70% contiguous land is reached and the sector becomes eligible for development works.
According to a senior DDA official, the notices have been issued to landowners — who have expressed interest in the policy — on the condition that they ensure contiguity in land within 90 days.
“In case, constituent landowners fail to form the consortium or are unable to achieve 70% contiguous pooled land in that particular sector, such notice shall be deemed cancelled [or] withdrawn automatically,” read a press note issued by the DDA on Wednesday.
The three sectors for which the notices have been issued are — sector 10-A (in Zone-N), and sectors 2 and 3 (in Zone-P-II). While each of these sectors has achieved the minimum participation rate of 70%, the pooled-in land parcels are not contiguous.
The issuing of conditional notices to form consortiums of landowners was one of the measures announced by the Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri, in March to expedite the execution of the land pooling policy.
The agency will also issue a public notice to all landowners to file objections regarding the list of landowners who have pooled their land under the policy.
Senior agency officials said in sector-2, located along the Yamuna river in north Delhi, spread across 140 hectares of developable land, landowners having a total of 121 hectares had expressed their interest in the land pooling policy.
In Sector 3, which is adjacent to sector 2, spread across 210 hectares of developable land, landowners with a total of 156 hectares have expressed their interest in land pooling.
Currently, 104 villages — which have been divided into six zones and further divided into 129 sectors — have been identified for land pooling. According to the current policy, 70% of contiguous land is required to attain eligibility for forming a landowners’ consortium in a sector.
Since the DDA first opened its window for land pooling applications in February 2019, a total area of 7,275.45 hectares from a total of 6,922 applications has been registered.
However, the urban body continued to face the roadblock of contiguity while interest in the policy waned since no development works have taken place since the policy was notified — on two occasions, in 2013 and 2018.
