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J’khand brings in ‘land pooling’ for planned urban growth
RANCHI The Jharkhand government has approved “land pooling” of private land in order to promote planned urbanisation in the state without the need to acquire land and making the land owners a stakeholder in the process
RANCHI
The Jharkhand government has approved “land pooling” of private land in order to promote planned urbanisation in the state without the need to acquire land and making the land owners a stakeholder in the process.
The state Assembly on Tuesday passed a Bill amending the Jharkhand Regional Development Authority Act, 1981, to introduce the concept, amid apprehensions by legislators about its implementation and violation of the state-specific tenancy Acts.
“Land pooling is a tool which will promote planned urbanisation and would help in key aspects of urbanisation such as roads, parks, landfill sites and other infrastructure projects without going through the complex process of land acquisition while simultaneously making land owners a partner in the process,” the Bill that was passed on Tuesday says.
However, during discussion on the Bill, legislators from both treasury and Opposition benches raised apprehensions about effectiveness of the instrument, besides lack of clear mechanism in the Bill to prevent violation of tenancy Acts such as CNT and SPT.
Congress legislator Pradeep Yadav said while the new law was welcome, it lacks teeth in absence of a separate Act. “This is a borrowed concept from other states. We need to have a separate Land Polling Act to implement it here,” said Yadav.
BJP legislator and former land and revenue minister Amar Bauri said the Bill did not clarify how would the land owners would benefit. “It has not been clarified what would be the share of the land owners in the entire project. Also, this state has special tenancy Acts and this Bill does not have any mention how would the rights of tribals would be protected if their land is taken for pooling,” he said.
Chief minister Hemant Soren, who was present in the House when the Bill was being passed, said rules would be framed in a such a way that all these apprehensions are taken care of.
