Latest news with #AerotropolisResidentialProject
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Feedback from restive AAP leaders, HC stay: What led to policy withdrawal
It was feedback from restive leaders of Punjab AAP, including Cabinet ministers, that prompted the state government to withdraw its land pooling policy on Monday. The Punjab and Haryana High Court stay on the policy was another push behind the scrapping. AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, who was in Punjab last week and was staying at Punjab Vikas Bhawan guest house in Sector 62 in Mohali, met Cabinet ministers and other party leaders. It is learnt that the leaders told Kejriwal that the policy was damaging their prospects as a mammoth resistance had build up against it. Prior to that, AAP MP from Anandpur Sahib Malvinder Singh Kang had already posted on his social media that the government should reconsider the policy as the farmers were opposed to it. Sources told The Indian Express that Kejriwal was told that the policy was announced in a hurried manner. 'In the meetings, it came up that the policy was announced in haste. It should have been done in a phased manner. We should have announced the land pooling scheme only for Mohali, where farmers were not opposed to it. It was only later that a narrative gained ground that the farmers would be getting plots and commercial spaces after many years. This defeated the purpose,' said a source privy to the discussions. As the policy was formally announced on May 14, it took three months for the officers of the department of housing and urban development to formulate it after bypassing long procedures such as inviting objections. After having lost election in Delhi in February, Punjab saw former Deputy CM of Delhi Manish Sisodia and former Cabinet minister Satyendar Jain getting active in Punjab. Jain was handed over the important department of hiousing and urban development. On March 4, the government effected transfers of IAS officers and handed Principal Secretary Vikas Garg the charge of the housing department by removing Rahul Tewari. Sources said the work on the policy picked up speed soon after. The first file related to land pooling for expansion of Aerotropolis Residential Project in Mohali landed up with CM Bhagwant Mann in mid-March. In the first meeting in mid-April, he refused to sign the file. Later in the day, he called a second meeting and signed the file, sources said. After that on May 14, the policy was finally formulated. The protests started erupting. It was amended on June 4 and July 25, making it more lucrative for the landowners. The AAP tried its best to make the policy work. On July 20, Jain huddled up with MLAs from Assembly segments where land was identified for land pooling and subsequent development in Chandigarh. AAP's state president Aman Arora, housing minister Hardeep Singh Mundian and Rajya Sabha turned Cabinet minister Sanjeev Arora were also part of the meeting besides party's spokespersons. During that meeting, Jain asked everyone to get answers for their questions and doubts about the policy. He then directed these MLAs to go to the people and change the narrative. However, that too did not work. 'Many MLAs tried but were faced with resistance. Then others did not try. The larger opinion within the party was also against the land pooling policy.' Sources said that Jain has been overseeing the housing department of Punjab and has actively helped in formulating the land pooling policy. The government had identified over 40,000 acres of land in 27 towns and cities with 30,000 acres identified in Ludhiana, Mohali and Amritsar alone. These huge chunks of land were to be acquired after the land owners offer these voluntarily.
Indian Express
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Punjab CM clears Aerotropolis Residential Project extension to fund Rs 1k monthly incentive to women
Expecting to generate Rs 17,000 crore to fund the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) pre-poll promise of providing Rs 1,000 monthly incentive to women, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has given his nod to the extension of Aerotropolis Residential Project near IT City after withholding the file for over a month. Under the extension project, the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) will develop six more blocks — E, F, G, H, I and J — in the residential project, in addition to A, B, C and D. The land for B, C and D blocks has been acquired, and the development work has been set in motion, but the development of Block A is hanging fire due to the land on which it is to be developed getting stuck in the alleged guava. State government sources said that after refusing to sign the file for over a month, Mann finally signed it Wednesday last, giving clearance to extend the project. It is learnt that the CM held a meeting with officials of the Chief Minister's Office and the Housing Development Department on Wednesday noon and told them categorically that he would 'not clear any file related to a housing project worth crores', and sent them back. However, after a few hours, 'he called officials again and cleared the file'. According to sources, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal had held a meeting with housing department officials and asked them to 'work out a project to contribute to the state exchequer, enabling the state government to fulfil the monthly incentive promise made to the women of the state. It was decided that the government would acquire an additional 3,400 acres through land pooling. 'Land pooling is a profitable way of acquiring land. Under this arrangement, landowners will be given plots in the residential project for land acquired from them. Both parties will benefit from the arrangement as landowners get land which appreciates manifold after the residential project comes up. And to the government, it does not cost anything. This project will help the state earn money,' a government officer said. The officer added that 1,700 acres had already been acquired through land pooling for A, B, C and D blocks. 'The land acquisition will take time. After the acquisition, the government will auction plots and allottees will have to pay the GMADA in instalments. This way, the government is expecting to generate Rs 5,000 crore by the end of the current fiscal. This will help the government roll out the sop promised to women,' the officer added. According to an estimate, the government needs around Rs 12,000 crore to pay Rs 1,000 incentives to all women voters in the state. 'If they work out a system, excluding women paying income tax, they will not require Rs 12,000 crore. They can then pay women in the last year of their rule with a lesser amount of Rs 5,000 crore,' said another government officer. In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, Mann had promised to increase the financial assistance to women from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,100. He said the proposal was on his table, but he couldn't sign it with the election code in effect. He assured that he would sign it once the elections were over. However, the state's financial situation did not permit him to provide the monthly incentive. Earlier, Mann had not cleared a file related to the Eco City-III project. Sources said the CM had told officials that he would not clear any housing project-related files where politicians had property in the area. At that time, Mann was holding the housing portfolio. However, Mann cleared the project after Hardeep Singh Mundian was handed over to the Housing Development Department.
