Chandigarh: The Punjab Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, on Wednesday officially approved a revised and newly amended Land Pooling Policy. The legislative breakthrough aims to clear major developmental hurdles across the state by offering substantially higher commercial and residential plot areas to affected landowners. The policy overhaul represents a major strategic pivot by the ruling Aam Aadmi Party government following intense agitations from state farming unions, who had previously challenged the initial frameworks in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Under the newly approved guidelines, the state government has introduced a structured mechanism to significantly enhance the compensation sizes for individuals surrendering their land chunks for public infrastructure. For land acquired under the mixed-use development category, owners will now receive a 210 square yard commercial plot per acre, marked as a direct increase from the 200 square yards promised under the previous draft. The policy retains the allocation of a 1,000 square yard residential plot per acre within this category without any area changes.
For land specifically acquired for purely residential mega-projects, the allocation for landowners has been expanded to 1,630 square yards per acre, up from the earlier 1,600 square yards limit. Similarly, in projects earmarked purely for commercial purposes, the cabinet expanded the plot return to 840 square yards from the older threshold of 800 square yards. To qualify for these higher institutional tiers, individuals must possess a minimum contiguous landholding of at least one acre. Additionally, the government has promised the prompt issuance of official Letters of Intent (LoI) to landowners holding smaller fragments of land to guarantee their stakes in upcoming developments.
To alleviate the financial burden on farming communities, the cabinet confirmed that no stamp duty will be levied on original landowners during the formal registration of these newly allotted, fully developed plots. In a major structural amendment to address public utility projects, farmers whose lands are specifically acquired for building expressways, state highways, and other civic infrastructure will now receive direct plot allocations instead of simple monetary packages. According to the revised schedule, an acquisition of one acre will yield a 200 square yard plot, an acquisition between one to 1.5 acres will guarantee a 300 square yard plot, and surrendering more than 2.5 acres for public roads will return a premium 500 square yard plot.
Beyond the real estate framework, the high-level meeting resulted in several other key administrative decisions aimed at urban regularisation and civic relief. The cabinet approved crucial amendments to the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act (PAPRA) to simplify the legal process for regularising older, unauthorized structural buildings inside illegal colonies. Furthermore, the state government announced a complete fee waiver for a selection of citizen-centric digital services from January 1 to September 30, synchronizing with the upcoming special revision of voter lists across Punjab. The comprehensive policy shift marks a definitive resolution following the historic withdrawal of the initial land acquisition drafts on August 11, 2025, due to persistent grassroots resistance.
