Coming up, another township on 5,350 acres in Mohali

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 29

Another township is coming up over a whopping 5,350 acres in Mohali. Aerotropolis, as it has been christened, will be developed on land of 14 villages in the vicinity of the Chandigarh international airport. This will be the fourth independent township being developed by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) after Knowledge City, Aerocity and IT City, which had turned out to be a great success in Mohali, and the eighth in the Greater Mohali area after EcoCity, EduCity and MediCity in New Chandigarh.

Sharing the details of the housing project, Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Housing and Urban Development-cum-Financial Commissioner, Revenue (FCR), Vini Mahajan told The Tribune here on Thursday that Aerotropolis had been approved by the Punjab Council of Ministers at its recent meeting, chaired by the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh.

The land for the new township will be acquired through the Land Pooling Policy, 2013, which has been further tweaked by the Cabinet to make it more farmer-friendly, she disclosed.

Giving a major boost to urban development in the vicinity of the Chandigarh international airport in Mohali, GMADA will acquire 5,350 acres in Rurka, Bakarpur, Shafipur, Nariangarh, Chhat, Kishanpura, Matran, Bari, Siau, Patton, Kurari, Saini Majra, Chau Majra and Manauli villages.

“Following detailed deliberations with farmers and all other stakeholders, the proportion of commercial area has been enhanced and commercial sites have been clubbed in the Land Pooling Scheme approved by the Cabinet for the Aerotropolis project,” said Mahajan. Also, the demand of a small percentage of farmers for cash compensation to purchase land for cultivation in other areas has been met.

According to the approved Land Pooling Scheme, a farmer whose 8-kanal land will be acquired for this project will get four options – 1,000 sq yard developed residential site and 121 sq yard developed SCO site with FAR 1:3 and basement or 500 sq yard residential site and 300 sq yard SCO site with FAR 1:3 and basement or 800 sq yard residential site and 200 sq yard SCO site with FAR 1:3 and basement.

Similarly, against 4-kanal land acquisition, a farmer will get two options – 400 sq yard residential site and 100 sq yard SCO site with FAR 1:3 and basement or 500 sq yard residential site and 60 sq yard shop site with FAR 1:2 double storey and basement.

For every 3-kanal land acquisition, a farmer will get two options – 300 sq yard residential site and 60 sq yard shop site with FAR 1:2 double storey and basement or only 450 sq yard residential site.

Against 2-kanal land acquisition, a farmer will get two options – 200 sq yard residential site and 40 sq yard booth site with FAR 1:1 and basement or only 300 sq yard residential site.

And for every 1-kanal land acquisition, a farmer will get a residential site measuring 150 sq yards. The sites will be excluding the parking area.

The ACS-cum-FCR said, “For landowners whose big chunk of land is acquired, if they demand, best efforts will be made to club their residential or commercial plots at one location”.

“Another major amendment made was that the landowners shall be allotted plots in the same sector/zone from where the land is acquired. Moreover, the zone and sector shall be earmarked before land pooling and the same shall be got approved from the competent authority soon,” she revealed.

The Cabinet, while approving the modifications, decided that higher share of commercial area could be considered for landowners if they so desired. However, in such cases, they would get lesser share of residential area to the tune of 1:3 ratio.

Further, landowners shall be given a maximum of 15 per cent of their land share as cash compensation in lieu of land which shall be purchased through a registered transfer sale deed as per compensation worked out.

Drone survey soon

A drone survey for the purpose of landscaping of the land to be acquired and to assess the compensation to be paid is going to start soon.

The exercise of conducting the survey with the drone has been introduced to expedite the process of land acquisition. 

The Social Impact Assessment, which is a part of the process of land acquisition, is also being carried out. A notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act has already been issued and Panjab University, Chandigarh, is carrying out the survey as per the provisions of the Act.

More benefits

It has been approved that the landowners whose land will be acquired will get exemption from payment of stamp duty for equivalent of land purchased within a period of three years. On purchase of land by the landowners in the state on sale of land pooling plots, they will also be exempted from payment of Punjab Land Records Society Facilitation charges. The mutation charges and service charges have also been exempted.

How it will help

The amendments approved in the Land Pooling Policy will provide more value of land to the landowners, as they will get larger size of commercial plots for business establishments. Also, it will lead to planned urban development in the vicinity of the Chandigarh international airport, better education, recreational and medical facilities, job opportunities with development of this area and wider road network and proper implementation of the master plan.