The Karnataka government is considering borrowing from the Gujarat model with regard to town planning, reports The Times of India.
According to a report by Sandeep Moudgal, the state government feels that the solution for the escalating land costs and cumbersome land acquisition process lies in adopting the Gujarat model, where land belonging to different individuals are pooled together, with the local development body developing townships in the pooled land.
After the construction, the property gets redistributed among the owners of the land. The authorities believe that the new model will ensure that the owners of the land does not have to sell their land at throwaway prices to the government.
Additional chief secretary of Urban Development Department (UDD), Mahendra Jain told TOI:
“This process enables the local planning authority to develop the pooled land, without forcing the owners to sell it to the government at throwaway prices. Also, it is a transparent process, which ensures freedom in design and control on growth and development.”
The report states that the Bangalore Development Authority and Belagavi Urban Development Authority will first take up the model, before other local development bodies adopt it.
UDD secretary V Ponnuraj was quoted as saying that in such a model, the owners of the land are compensated in terms of land itself. 10% of the land, however, will be retained by the local body for the purpose of revenue generation.
“Based on an agreed distribution ratio, a portion of the land will be handed over to the farmers, while the revenue from the pooled land will then be divided among the farmers equitably,” he said.