Chandigarh govt asks progress report on land pooling policy

UT adviser Dharam Pal has asked for a progress report on the proposed land pooling policy that the administration has been operating on. The draft is being made by the Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Human Settlement (IIHS). Lately, the administration had asked the IIHS to present a revised draft policy on village development, regularisation of unauthorised constructions and extension of lal dora. The administration has already planned to make Chandigarh Housing Board (CHB) a nodal agency for the policy to use available vacant land in the city as per the Master Plan-2031. The administration has sought different departments to submit details of their available, encroached land and accordingly a policy will be formed to utilise the land. Most of the potential vacant land is locked in various pockets, predominantly in villages in the city’s periphery. A major chunk of this land is facing a serious threat of encroachments and unauthorised constructions. To use the land, the UT is working on a development plan which will allow the integration of villages in the sectoral plan of the city. The UT had released notification and had even clarified that the area outside the aabadi area of recently merged 13 villages will continue to be controlled by the Punjab New Capital (Periphery) Control Act, 1952, as relevant to the UT of Chandigarh. The Chandigarh Master Plan-2031 had pointed out illegal constructions had come upon over 250 acre outside lal dora in villages. Image Source Also read: Chandigarh administration adviser wants report on land pooling policy