After almost 15 years of its introduction and four years of its gazette notification by the ministry of housing and urban affairs (MoHUA), the land pooling policy under the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is yet to see implementation and development in proposed sectors.
The DDA has received willingness from a few landowners to participate in the policy. As a next step, it has invited proposals to form a consortium in three model proposed sectors (Sector 10A in Zone N, and Sector 02 and 03 in Zone P-II) where more than 70% of the land is pooled, and land records are verified. The recently released notice is taken as a welcome step by a few landowners and private builders/developers who are eying to get the policy implemented as soon as possible and get the best returns out of it.
However, a lot of pertinent issues are yet to be resolved with regard to the policy as raised by a majority of landowners in land pooling villages.
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The meagre amount of land pooled in the last round of window opening by DDA for registering land under pooling shows the lack of interest and apprehensiveness amongst farmers and landowners for the policy.
One of the major challenges faced by DDA in the implementation of the policy is the lack of contiguous land parcels for development. To tackle this challenge, DDA is now considering amending DDA Act, 1957 making it mandatory for the remaining landowners to submit their land once the minimum threshold of 70% voluntary land pooling is achieved in a sector.
If brought into place, this would be a major amendment to the policy as it raises a question on the ‘voluntary clause’ in the land pooling policy. What if the landowners are not satisfied or apprehensive about participating in the policy due to various reasons? Should they be forced to participate and submit their land for pooling?
EDC, an additional burden on landowners
As the next step for these proposed model sectors, landowners have to come together, form a consortium and pay the external development charges (EDC) in an escrow account that will be used by DDA for the provision of infrastructural facilities. The landowners since the first notification of policy in 2013 and revised policy in 2018 have raised concerns on the ability of landowners to pay these development charges.
In 2013, DDA fixed Rs 2 crore/acre as the EDC amount, however, the 2018 policy didn’t specify any such amount.
Satyadev, a farmer and landowner from Bazidpur Thakran (Sector 10A, Zone N), has registered his land for pooling, and raised concerns over the payment of the development charge. He said, “We will not be able to pay the development charge to DDA.”
“Where will we get Rs 1 crore or 2 crore? We even don’t know how much it would be for different landowners. How can farmers afford to pay this much amount? We don’t even get a property loan on our lal dora land. Bank doesn’t even recognise this as a legitimate property. If this EDC issue is not resolved, we are happy to take our lands back as it was before the land pooling policy and continue with whatever we have.”
Though landowners have registered their land for the pooling, they are unclear about what the next step would look like. Only a few landowners who are into property sale and purchase business and have been regularly in touch with DDA are clear about a few policy provisions. Others inside the village keep following whatever they get to hear from here and there or these few landowners.
What happens to the village Abadi area?
The resident welfare association (RWA) of Nangal Thakran – a neighbouring declared ‘urban’ village located in Zone N and is under the ambit of the land pooling policy – has been writing to DDA and the ministry of housing and urban affairs about the problems in the announced and yet incomplete policy that has been revised and amended multiple times since its announcement.
However, the RWA has not received any credible response from DDA or any agency that is planning to drastically change the socio-spatial and economic lives of villagers with the introduction of the land pooling policy.
Devinder Jiledar, a native of Nangal Thakran village and a pensioner from the irrigation department of the Haryana government said, “We don’t have housing space for our own families that have grown in size after last consolidation exercise in 1952 and Government of India is asking to surrender our land so that Delhi city can further grow on it. This is at the cost and sacrifice of our desires and aspirations.”
He posed questions for the planners and policymakers asking, “Whether they are blind or so irresponsible that they are unable to make sense of what’s a village and how can a city grow on farmlands and leave the village intact without any provisions for Abadi areas in the policy?”
“Will it ultimately serve the purpose? If yes, then for whom? Is this the plan for the future development of Delhi? Where do we go with our requirements? The planners can’t make a plan that consolidates the land of the farmers first, keep certain land for their own needs, and then trade the remaining surplus land, that too if it remains after family divisions and further subdivisions in extended family members.”
DDA, through Master Plans of 2001 and 2021, had proposed to prepare a village development plan for the declared ‘urban’ villages, however, none of these were prepared. The current policy also doesn’t provide a concrete mechanism to integrate these villages in the future development of adjacent areas.
Devinder made the following proposal and said, “What we have collectively suggested is a barter, DDA or any other entity can take our land and in return provide us residential and commercial plots as per the ratio of land adjusted in this process. Both the village and the proposed sectors can be integrated through this fair and ‘planned’ process by preparing a village development plan. As natives, we believe this is the least the DDA can do.”
Geospatial images of the village show the colour-coded record of village-based land use pattern. Abadi is the red area of the village and the rest of the village area is majorly under cultivation and other uses. Grazing land has been transferred to Delhi government without any say of the villagers.
Maps show the superimposition of the village revenue boundary on Google Earth. Although the village is announced as the model sector, due to lack of connectivity, it looks impractical to see the implementation of the policy in near future without the contiguous development of nearby sectors and the whole of the zone under LPP.
Addressing trust issues while forming the consortium
The pooled land parcels overlaid with land ownership pattern and land parcels owned by multiple landowners or single landowner raise interesting questions about the formation of the consortium as the next step.
The formation of the consortium and its constitution is important to analyse as it will decide a formula for redistribution of developed land/built space, or any other form of fair exchange as part of an ‘implementation plan’.
With land parcels subdivided between multiple landowners, the real challenge is to accommodate and provide a transparent and efficient mechanism for multiple landowners to come together and work on the ‘Implementation Plan’.
The map depicts the lands owned by village residents and the status of the land pooling policy in Sector 10A, Zone N. Multiple ownership with varied land parcels remains a major challenge ahead of the formation of a consortium in the village.
Sanjeev Thakran, a landowner and real-estate consultant in Bazidpur Thakran village, spoke about the formation of consortium as one of the main challenges in the policy.
He said, “One person will represent the consortium in DDA and take all the papers. When I don’t know anyone inside the village, why would I give my land papers? The policy says that all the landowners should come together, suppose there are 100 landowners, they all need to come together and give their land to the builder. Why would we do that? Would DDA pay us if there are any issues later, people don’t trust each other in matters of land. DDA should cancel this idea of the formation of the consortium.”
Though the provisions of the policy are not in line with what Thakran spoke about in detail, this also points to the fact that landowners are themselves unclear about the exact provisions of the policy. However, the broad challenge of landowners coming together and then agreeing on a plan of action for the future remains very well ahead of the policy.
Land mutation is a bigger challenge
Before the formation of consortium, the land mutation process – that is change in land ownership title in documents – is another challenge that has generated confusion amongst landowners. In an order issued by the special secretary (revenue) department, Government of NCT of Delhi, the revenue officers are directed to not make any changes/updating in the revenue records pertaining to urbanised villages in Delhi.
They are required to submit certified copies of the land records of urbanised villages to the DDA and three MCDs in Delhi. However, the DDA’s land management department has alleged that they are yet to get the land records from revenue department of Delhi government, even though villages are handed over to DDA after being declared ‘Development Area’ or ‘Urban’. The back-and-forth between DDA and revenue department has been a concern for landowners as they are not able to inherit hereditary land and are not able to apply for loans, subsidies, or utility services.
Jitender Yadav, a farmer’s son from Jhuljhuli village, expressed disappointment, noting how after the demise of his grandfather their ancestral land is still not mutated in the name of his father and his brothers.
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“The policymakers aren’t taking care of our basic rights on which our livelihood is dependent, can we trust them with the policy that is neither helping us to access housing facilities to accommodate our increased family sizes nor is providing us with any benefits in both short and long-term scenario. The sector development starts, how will we sustain ourselves as the development will take years to come into existence. This is the biggest flaw in the policy and hence landowners who have an immediate need for money are forced to sell their land at minimal prices,” he told the authors of this piece.
Addressing concerns of village, the immediate need of the hour
DDA has issued a provisional notice for consortium formation within 90 days with a condition that remaining un-pooled landowners in proposed model sectors have to come together and register their land parcels to get contiguous land.
Failing the above clause, the notice for the formation of consortium stands cancelled or will be withdrawn. Based on the issues raised by landowners about development charges, formation of consortium and redistribution of lands in these proposed model sectors, it is highly unlikely that DDA would be able to take a step forward in the policy.
Though more than 70% of the landowners agreed to register their lands for pooling based on the opinion of a few dominant and local property dealers inside the village, however, the real challenge starts now when each landowner, including small and marginal landowners, would have to deposit some amount as development charges.
Will DDA take adequate steps to sit together with the landowners and provide a clear framework on payment of development charges and formation of consortium or would it allow landowners to resolve these issues on their own? Though it is acting only as a facilitator in the policy and allowing private players to take lead in the policy, the formation of consortium would be one such step which will test the inclusiveness and participatory nature of the policy.
Addressing legitimate concerns of the landowners who have been deeply associated with their lands for years will decide the future fate of the policy. If this is not done, it could lead to distress sales amongst small and marginal landowners who don’t have any other sources of income and might fall prey to a monopoly scenario created by a few large-scale landowners or big private builders and developers.
Vipul Kumar is a postgraduate from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. As part of his post-graduation thesis, he worked on the Land Pooling Policy and its implementation in Zone L.
Paras Tyagi is the co-founder & President of the Centre for Youth Culture Law and Environment (CYCLE), which is advocating for the land reforms in Delhi villages to improve their quality of life.
