Ghaziabad: The Ghaziabad Development Authority ( GDA ) is all set to give precedence to land pooling over land acquisition, after the UP cabinet recently gave its approval for the same. The land pooling policy has already been employed by states like Maharashtra and Gujarat to give fillip to urban infrastructure without land acquisition hurdles.Under the policy, officials said, GDA will exhort farmers to contribute land to create a pool which the development agency would use for infrastructure development. And subsequently, it would return some 40% of the redeveloped land to the original owners after appropriating costs of infrastructure and public/shared spaces.“After going through the nuances of the land pooling policy, the UP cabinet has given its approval to adopt it across the state. We will also start implementing the policy in Ghaziabad to develop urban infrastructure, including housing, to cater to the needs of growing urbanisation,” Kanchan Verma, vice-chairperson, GDA, told TOI on Wednesday.The policy has been introduced as land acquisition is proving to be a costly proposition and a time-consuming process, she said. “The policy will spare development authorities and the government from investing huge amount of money for land acquisition,” Verma added.As per this policy, GDA will utilise 40% of land from the pool in developing basic amenities like roads, drainage, parks, hospitals, schools etc, officials said. “The other 40% of the developed land will be returned to the farmers or owners in the ratio contributed in the pool after appropriating costs of infrastructure and public/shared spaces. The remaining 20% of the developed land will be sold off,” said Verma.The adoption of the policy was also necessitated after land acquisition hurdles has stalled over 350 infrastructure projects in the state. “The land pooling policy will give an impetus to developmental projects without compromising the interests of farmers and land owners,” she added.

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