CHANDIGARH: After the land pooling scheme had to be withdrawn, now the cash-strapped Aam Aadmi Party-led Punjab Government is set to reintroduce the more than two decades old Optimum Utilisation of Vacant Government Lands (OUVGL) Scheme in a new format - OUVGL Scheme 2.0 - as a potential scheme to earn much-needed revenue.
Interestingly, it is the same policy which was first introduced by the then SAD-BJP Government in 1997, as AAP has been hitting out at both SAD and BJP for "anti-people policies".
Sources said most of the unutilised government land was encroached upon by unscrupulous elements and all department heads had been instructed to identify all vacant and unutilised land, including the encroached, within a few days. The government will first get the pool of land ready and then, based on the demand for housing for commercial or industrial use, get it developed at various places.
“Under the OUVGL Scheme 2.0 all prime unutilised state government properties are proposed to be transferred to Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) which will develop these properties into residential, commercial and industrial areas before auctioning them,’’ said an official.
Sources further pointed out that last week Punjab Chief Secretary KAP Sinha took a meeting of all administrative secretaries to discuss how to implement this scheme and identify land or properties that can be transferred to PUDA for auctioning in the near future.
The state government proposes to fund its populist schemes, including implementation of the Rs 1,100 per month for women, from the money it gets from this scheme and also use revenue for capital expenditure.
Between April and July this year, the expenditure was Rs 41,352.80 crore but the government could only manage to get Rs 30,662.64 crore in revenue. Thus the revenue deficit in four months was around Rs 10,690.16 crore. The state government has raised a loan of Rs 12,191.52 crore during this period to meet its expenses.
Under the land pooling scheme, the government was targeting a revenue of Rs 8,000 crore during this fiscal, but it has been withdrawn now. In the past, both SAD-BJP and Congress governments have also earned revenue under this OUVGL scheme.
Punjab Congress President and Member of Parliament from Ludhiana, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, said that the OUVGL is an admission of bankruptcy in Punjab.
“After being forced to withdraw the ‘land looting scheme’ the @AAPPunjab government has now come out with another idea of ‘selling the family silver’ to make up for the huge financial losses it has subjected the state to, through the Optimum Utilization of Vacant Government Lands (OUVGL). This only proves that the AAP government has proved to be an economic and financial disaster for Punjab and pushed the state towards bankruptcy. You only sell the family silver once you have turned completely bankrupt after exhausting/squandering away all other resources,’’ he wrote on X.
Meanwhile, in another related development, in order to reinforce fiscal discipline and maximise revenue realisation, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema announced that the Punjab Excise Commissionerate has intensified efforts to recover long-pending excise arrears inherited from previous SAD-BJP and Congress governments.
The department has already recovered Rs 1.85 crore in the current financial year 2025–26, and permission has been granted to sell 27 properties with a combined base value of Rs 20.31 crore (at Collector Rate), marking a significant step toward financial accountability. Cheema said that the auction process for these properties is now underway.
“As part of this recovery drive, 14 properties located in Muktsar, Fazilka, and Mansa districts will be auctioned during the first two weeks of September,’’ he added.
He said that six properties in Mansa and Bathinda districts, comprising agricultural and commercial, residential land with a base price of Rs 5.4 crore, will be auctioned on September 4.
On September 8, four agricultural properties in Muktsar with a total base price of Rs 4.89 crore will go under the hammer. Another set of four agricultural properties in Muktsar and Fazilka, valued at Rs 1.99 crore, will be auctioned on September 11.
He also announced that eight additional properties will be auctioned later in September, ensuring sustained momentum in the recovery campaign. He emphasised that the government anticipates substantial revenue recovery from 67 pending arrears cases within this financial year alone.