In what could ease availability of land for industrial projects, a high-level government panel has recommended that all land held by the Centre should be inventoried with location mapping so that unused land could be easily identified and put up for sale to corporates under a public-private-partnership (PPP) model. The measure is expected to unlock close to 1 lakh square kilometres of land lying unused with various central government departments and ministries.
In its draft report, the Ashok Chawla committee on allocation of natural resources has also said that government agencies should play a more proactive role in setting aside landholdings for commercial use. This, the panel has said, could be done by these agencies getting permission for land use change in consultation with the local government.
Land related issues have become a major stumbling block for several large projects in the recent past.
Land with clear titles would make it easier for the government to sell it to corporates without inviting any controversy. The Registration Act of 1908 makes registration of land deeds compulsory, but not mutation of titles. Therefore, lack of state guarantee for the title leads to unclear titles, resulting in disputes.
?The government is considering using portions of its unused land for construction of recreational zones, business parks, leisure facilities, arcades, shopping complexes and convention centres under a PPP arrangement. The changed land allotment norms will be a big help here,? said a government official aware of the recommendations.
According to the roadmap suggested by the panel, the Centre will first take up a survey of all its landholdings across cities. Then it would undertake a Geographical Information System (GIS)-based mapping of the land. Eventually, maps would be developed for each state, which would be updated every month to reflect any sale of land or addition of new plots to the kitty. The maps would also be available on the ministries’ websites. The respective ministries will hold auctions for the land from time to time.
The land inventory would also come in handy for putting in place a proper monitoring mechanism to check encroachments.