Land Pooling: DDA to issue more provisional notices to form consortiums

Notices to be sent to landowners in four sectors

Currently, 104 villages — which have been divided into six zones and further divided into 129 sectors — have been identified for land pooling. | Photo Credit: FILE PHOTO

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is going to issue conditional notices for the formation of consortiums in four more sectors that have been identified as part of the urban body’s Land Pooling Policy (LPP), said a senior DDA official on Tuesday.

The four sectors, which are among the 16 that have been identified as high priority by the DDA, are located in Zones N and P-II.

“We are in the process of preparing the conditional notices. A public notice will be issued after the process is completed,” the senior official said.

Earlier this month, the urban body stated that it was considering issuing conditional notices in five sectors — Sectors 1, 7 and 8 in Zone-PII, Sector 11 in Zone-N and Sector 3 in Zone-L – that have been identified as part of the LPP.

Currently, 104 villages — which have been divided into six zones and further divided into 129 sectors — have been identified for land pooling.

In mid-May, the DDA first issued conditional notices for the formation of a consortium in three sectors — Sector 10-A in Zone-N, and Sectors 2 and 3 in Zone-P-II, which are also among the high priority sectors.

Sectors where some of the eligibility criteria are met — such as a minimum participation rate of 70% — are categorised by the DDA as high priority.

However, another requirement — a minimum of 70% of the pooled land must be contiguous — is yet to be achieved. The urban agency aims to remove this roadblock by issuing conditional notices.

The issuing of conditional notices places the onus on land owners, who have expressed their interest in the scheme, to convince the remaining landowners to pool their land parcels and eliminate the roadblock of contiguity.

Senior officials at the urban body are banking on a set of proposed amendments to the Delhi Development Act, 1957. One of these amendments will make land pooling mandatory if the minimum participation rate is achieved. The other amendment is aimed at granting powers to the Centre to declare land pooling mandatory, even if the minimum threshold is not achieved.