Telangana government is now implementing the land pooling scheme on assigned land in the state, especially in and around Hyderabad.
The land pooling scheme is being planned in about 3,500 acres which is expected to fetch about 10,000 crore to the government in the next few months.
Sources said the land pooling schemes are being planned in places like Thorrur, Turkayamjal, Manneguda, Munagnuru, Pasumamula, Lemoor, Kollur, Mokila, and some areas in Qutbullapur and Uppal assembly constituencies.
Under the land pooling scheme, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) develops the land taken from the farmers and in lieu of their land, it would give developed plots to the farmers.
Officials said assigned land was allotted to the landless poor for agriculture purposes by the government several decades ago. But, the allottees (farmers) do not have any powers to sell or transfer the land to other private parties (prohibition of transfers), which is not legally valid also.
Due to urbanisation in many districts, especially in HMDA jurisdiction districts such as Rangareddy, Medchal Malkajgiri and Sangareddy, the land has been put for non-agriculture utilisation and illegal transactions were taking place, a senior official in the revenue department said.
“Assigned land costs about 25 lakh per acre in some areas around Hyderabad. If a farmer sells, it is an illegal sale. If they hand over the land to the government, the developed plots would get 600 square yards of plot, which costs about 2.4 crore as the land cost around Hyderabad is minimum 40,000 per square yard. This is a win-win situation for both the government and also to the farmers. The other issue is, if the government develops, there will be proper development, which leads to the planned growth,” a revenue official said.
The government has issued guidelines to the district collectors for procurement of the assigned land for the land pooling scheme. The minimum land required for implementing the scheme is 10 acres, which should be contiguous. The government cautioned the collectors not to resort to any forcible procurement of the land for the land pooling scheme.
