T’gana govt mulls land pooling for infra works

The Telangana government is contemplating introducing a comprehensive land pooling policy for acquiring land for infrastructure and development projects, inspired by the land pooling model adopted by the Andhra Pradesh government for its capital city Amaravati, people familiar with the development said

The Telangana government is contemplating introducing a comprehensive land pooling policy for acquiring land for infrastructure and development projects, inspired by the land pooling model adopted by the Andhra Pradesh government for its capital city Amaravati, people familiar with the development said.

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As Telangana is facing severe shortage of land, especially around Hyderabad capital region, the government is considering going in for land pooling from farmers, rather than land acquisition, which is resulting in a lot of litigation in courts.

In the land pooling policy being implemented in Andhra Pradesh, the Chandrababu Naidu government has allotted 250-400 square yards of commercial plot, depending on the location, besides 1,000-1250 square yards square yards of residential plot in the capital region, for every acre of land surrendered by the farmers voluntarily.

Besides, the farmers were paid an annual lease of ₹30,000 per acre for dry lands and ₹50,000 per acre for fertile (wet) lands, with incremental increases each year, for a period of 10 years, which was later extended to 15 years.

In the first phase of land pooling scheme introduced in 2015-16, the Naidu government acquired 34,000 acres under the land pooling system and now in the ongoing second phase, the government is planning to acquire another 16,666 acres.

However, the land pooling scheme in Andhra Pradesh has no statutory status, as the government there convinced the farmers to surrender their lands voluntarily after holding gram sabhas.

But the Telangana wants to enact a legislation for land pooling, on the lines of land acquisition act, a Central act of 2013, so that there would not be any litigations in the courts, an official familiar with the matter said.

“A preliminary draft of the ‘Telangana Comprehensive Area Development Planning Bill-2026’, expected to lay the legal framework for land pooling across the state, is likely to be introduced in the upcoming monsoon session of the state assembly,” the official said.

The government is planning to constitute a special committee comprising senior officials from various departments soon to take the land pooling policy forward and finalise the proposed legislation.

Last month, state chief secretary chaired a series of meetings with senior officials from the municipal administration, transport, roads and buildings, irrigation department, and the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) to discuss the key provisions to be incorporated into the proposed legislation.

“The proposed legislation aims to create a uniform policy that can be used for land pooling in various development projects while reducing dependence on conventional land acquisition methods,” the official quoted above said.

The government requires vast tracts of land for several ongoing and upcoming infrastructure projects, including national highways, railway lines, the Regional Ring Road (RRR), proposed high-speed rail corridors, airport expansion projects, industrial corridors, industrial parks, townships, and irrigation projects.

“The policy is expected to include a mechanism under which landowners will receive a portion of their pooled land back as fully developed plots after infrastructure such as roads and utilities has been created,” he said.

An irrigation department official said the land pooling policy may also be used to acquire land for various irrigation projects which are getting delayed due to land acquisition disputes. “The policy is being modelled in a way to make landowners stakeholders in the development and receive a share of the benefits arising from projects,” the official said.

A legally-backed policy and an integrated state-wide approach on land pooling could accelerate infrastructure development while reducing disputes and resistance over land acquisition, the official added.