Planners welcome SC order on village land - Times Of India

Planners welcome SC order on village land - Times Of India

TNN Feb 1, 2011, 01.41am IST

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court's order terming the sale of village common land for private or commercial use as illegal could be a shot in the arm for the city. Delhi, say urban planners, is slowly losing not only its green land to commercial use but also facing an increasing threat of water shortage - thanks mainly to disappearing water bodies.

The land in question is the gram sabha land. This land, say experts, is the common land in villages, which mainly comprise fields of play or water bodies that replenish water table. Over the past decades though, the lack of proper guidelines has meant that village land - whether agricultural or common - has been encroached upon rampantly. Places like Shahpur Jat, Hauz Khas, Zamrudpur, Kotla Mubarakpur, Mehrauli and many others have seen unauthorized residential and commercial activity, which were ultimately regularized by the government.

Says AK Jain, former commissioner (planning), Delhi Development Authority (DDA), "Traditionally, buildings in lal dora areas (village land) are exempted from approval of building plans. The MCD, which manages this land, has allowed buildings for bonafide residential use to be built without seeking plans from planning bodies like the MCD or DDA."

The reality though is that unauthorized construction, commercial in use as well, has become rampant in these areas. Over 1,600 colonies have sprung up - which are now headed for regularization by the government. Political pressure as well as complex law and order situation has meant that existing constructions in these areas get a stamp of authenticity. With Delhi having 360 villages - 135 urban and over 200 rural villages, the pressure is intense in these areas for more constructions. This has led to the government declaring an "extended" lal dora area: ostensibly to accommodate the increasing population in the villages. On the other hand, the government has maintained that loss of farming land is justification for selling the land to non-farmers.

Planners say the conversion of village land into private or commercial havens has turned the city into an unplanned ghetto. Says Jain, "But how practical it is to make the SC order retrospective cannot be answered now. There's a huge amount of gram sabha land that has been subverted into private or commercial use."