Chandigarh, July 3: The Punjab Cabinet, under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, has approved extensive changes to the state’s land acquisition policy to deliver higher commercial and residential returns to local farmers. The updated framework introduces several additional relief measures intended to alleviate the practical hardships faced by families whose properties are acquired for state development projects. By re-engineering the existing compensation models, the administration aims to make large-scale public acquisitions more equitable and less disruptive for agrarian communities.
Under the revised parameters, landowners who choose a combined residential and commercial compensation package will see their commercial entitlement expand, while those opting strictly for residential allocations will receive larger plots per acre. The state has also updated its Oustee Policy to guarantee escalating plot sizes based on the total volume of land acquired, ensuring that even small-scale farmers receive sustainable urban alternatives. Furthermore, the validity of the Sahuliyat Certificate—which offers administrative privileges to affected families—has been doubled to four years.
Cabinet Minister Harpal Singh Cheema stated that the amendments were directly informed by public feedback collected during consultative sessions. “Under the Residential and Commercial option, the residential entitlement will continue to remain 1,000 square yards per acre, while the commercial entitlement has been increased from 200 square yards to 210 square yards per acre. If a landowner opts only for a residential plot instead of the commercial option, the residential entitlement has been increased from 1,600 square yards to 1,630 square yards per acre,” the Minister affirmed.
Financial protections have also been woven into the policy update to lower the transaction costs typically associated with property relocation. Original landowners will be completely exempt from paying stamp duty or processing fees when registering their freshly developed plots. Alternatively, farmers can apply this stamp duty exemption toward purchasing substitute land anywhere in Punjab, up to the assessed collector value of their seized property. To assist with agricultural continuity, eligible families will also receive preferential plot locations and a priority tubewell connection.
