Chandigarh, September 13– Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal today launched the new e-Bhoomi portal to further ease the process of purchasing land for the development of government projects with the consent of the land owners. The government aims to purchase land in a transparent manner with the consent of the landowners, said Sh. Manohar Lal while addressing a press conference here today. Mines and Geology Minister, Sh. Mool Chand Sharma and Urban Local Bodies Minister, Dr. Kamal Gupta also remained present on this occasion.
He said that now apart from farmers, aggregators will also be able to offer land on this portal. The aggregator must be an income taxpayer and must have a PPP ID. He said that earlier it was mandatory that the aggregator should be registered as a property dealer under the provisions of the Property Dealers and Consultants Act, 2008, now we have also removed the requirement of this condition, informed the Chief Minister.
He said that the offer of land on the new portal would be valid for 6 months. Farmers can offer their land independently or through listed aggregators. A minimum offer of 10 acres has been made mandatory for voluntary offers made by aggregators. The offer made by an individual land owner on the e-Bhoomi portal can be of a partial or full share. However, if an aggregator uploads the consent or offer of one or more landowners, the offer must be for the entire portion of each landowner's land, shared Sh. Manohar Lal.
Aggregators will be given incentives ranging from Rs. 1,000 to Rs 3,000 per acre
Sh. Manohar Lal said that in case of the purchase of land for projects, aggregators will be given incentives at the rate of 1 percent. Additionally, even if purchase does not occur, aggregators will be given an incentive of Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 per acre for their efforts provided they have the consent of at least 70 percent of the total indented land.
The Chief Minister said that nodal officers have been identified in each department and at the district level to facilitate and coordinate the entire process. Under the process, once anyone (individual or aggregator) uploads the offer on the portal, it will be informed to the designated agency which will inform the concerned government department for the proposed project, he added.
He said that after this, the process will start on automatic mode considering the rates being offered by the individual or aggregator. If the rates are within the range of the Collector rate then the Administrative Secretary of the department will immediately approve it after examining the feasibility.
Further, if the rates are higher than the collector rates (up to 50 per cent), it will be presented for consideration before the Committee of Secretaries headed by the Chief Secretary. This process is also time bound and the decision for approval will be taken at the level of the Committee of Secretaries. If the rates are more than 50 percent of the collector rates, the proposal will be sent to the High Powered Land Purchase Committee headed by the Chief Minister, shared Sh. Manohar Lal.
He said that in normal cases it is expected that the entire process will be completed within a time frame of 3 to 6 months. This process will bring transparency as well as reduce complaints of delay in payment by land owners and aggregators.
Chief Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. Rajesh Khullar, Additional Chief Secretary, and Financial Commissioner, Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Sh. TVSN Prasad, Additional Chief Secretary, Housing for All Department, Sh. Raja Shekhar Vundru, Additional Chief Secretary, Mines and Geology Department, Sh. Arun Gupta, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Sh. V Umashankar, Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister and Director General, Information, Public Relations, Language and Culture Department, Dr. Amit Agrawal, Chief Administrator, Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran, Sh. Ajit Balaji Joshi, Director, Consolidation of Land Holdings and Land Records, Ms. Amna Tasneem and other officers also remained present on this occasion.