At a time when there has been large scale conversion of agricultural land for real estate purposes, the government has moved to regulate the conversion of agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes, by constituting a committee under Secretary Planning in the Department of Town and Country Planning.
As per the notification issued on Tuesday Dec 18), all agricultural land conversions would have to be approved by the Committee. If the committee decides against the conversion, the land cannot be used for non-agricultural purposes. The committee has been given statutory powers to take legal action in case of a violation.
Though there was a land use board under the department of agriculture, it had become defunct long ago. There was only a committee under the department, but it had no legal powers. This had led to large scale land conversions, with agricultural activities shrinking to 48,651 hectares.
This move come at a time when the primary sector‘s (agricultural and allied activities) contribution to Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has shrunk to 4.6 per cent. The government was targeting at increase the share of primary sector in Puducherry’s GSDP to 10 per cent by the end of 12th plan, Development Commissioner Raajiv Yadhuvanshi said. This means that the UT’s primary sector has to grow at the rate of 20 to 25 per cent during the 12th plan. With land continuing to be a limiting factor due to high population density and high proportion of urbanised population, UT can no longer afford land conversion except where there is no other alternative. The total agricultural land at present is 48,651 hectares in the UT, out of which 18,547 hectares are being used for non-agricultural purposes, as per government statistics. Out of the remaining agricultural areas of 30,104 hectares, the net sown area is around 20,000 only.
The other members in the Committee are Secretary Revenue, Chief Engineer PWD, Director Industries, Director Local Administration, Commissioner of Municipalities concerned, Commune Panchayts and Director Agriculture. The Member Secretary is the Chief Town Planner, Town and Country Planning Department.
The recommendations of the committee will be placed before the T & C Planning Board and then after approval by the board, it would go to Lieutenant Governor for approval.