Chandigarh:- The Punjab Cabinet on Wednesday approved the new land pooling policy after amending it due to opposition from landowners. In a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, efforts have been made to pave the way for the implementation of the new revised land pooling policy with the aim of providing additional benefits to landowners. In the new revised land pooling policy, the area of ??residential and commercial plots has been increased in exchange for land to landowners.
The AAP government had initially announced a land pooling policy on May 14, 2025, which was heavily opposed by farmers in Punjab and the matter had reached the High Court. According to information available with the Punjabi Tribune, under the land pooling policy, the land owners will be given a commercial plot of 210 square yards per acre for the land that will be acquired for mixed use and residential purposes, whereas in the old policy, there was a provision to give a plot of 200 square yards.
In this category, a residential plot of one thousand yards per acre is also to be given, the area of ??which has not been increased in the revised policy. Under the second category, the land that will be acquired for residential purposes under the revised policy, the land owners will be given a residential plot of 1630 square yards, whereas in the old policy, this area was 1600 square yards.
Similarly, the land that will now be acquired from the landowners for commercial purposes will now be given a commercial plot of 840 square yards, which was earlier 800 yards. In all these categories, the land ownership should be more than one acre.
Under the revised policy, special letters of intent will also be issued to landowners with pieces of land. It has also been decided that no stamp duty will be charged from the original landowners at the time of registration of the developed plot allotted under this scheme. Under another amendment, farmers whose land is acquired for roads and other public purposes under the land pooling policy will get plots in exchange for the acquired land.
A plot of 200 square yards will be given for one acre of land, 300 square yards for one to one and a half acres of land and a plot of five hundred square yards will be given for land acquired above two and a half acres. In the cabinet meeting today, the PAPRA Act has been amended to regularize buildings built in unauthorized colonies in Punjab. Similarly, fees have been waived for some citizen-centric services during the special revision of voter lists from January 1 to September 30. It is worth mentioning that after the farmers' protest, the government had amended the initial notification of the land pooling policy first on June 4 and then on July 25. Despite this, the farmers did not agree, due to which the government announced the withdrawal of the land pooling policy on August 11, 2025.