Agri land to plots: CMDA & DTCP opinion sought
CHENNAI: The state government has sought views from two urban planning authorities, Director of Town and Country Planning (DTCP) and Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) about creating a single-window system for the conversion of agricultural nanjai land into residential layouts.
The government has shown interest in the idea based on a petition filed by Tamil Nadu Plot Promoters Association.
The petition given to housing minister S Muthuswamy and housing secretary (NAME) Selvi Apoorva highlighted difficulties in getting NoCs from various departments. This comes in the wake of the state government in 2010 amending the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act to prevent the conversion of wetlands to other purposes. The amendment also took away the powers of tahsildars to grant permission to convert agricultural land for residential and other purposes and entrusted it with collectors to prevent misuse.
Secretary of Tamil Nadu Plot Promoters Association M Ravi said, “To get conversion of land use zone of agriculture Nanjai lands that fall outside CMDA, all approval procedures should be submitted to the Director of Town and Country Planning or a subordinate which takes almost three years to complete.
Initially, for conversion of property that falls under nanjai land outside CMDA, the plot owner or promoter has to seek the concurrence of the collector. This leads to the collector seeking several NoCs and certificates from departments like public works, revenue, fire and forest and environment departments and Sipcot. This is a long process.”
Many promoters have invested in their project taking loans. If the projects are not implemented on time, they have to pay huge amounts of interest, he added. Till 2010, the conversion was a hyperactive but unregulated drive, fuelled in recent years by the growth in service industries, including IT, and the increase in disposable income. The state amended the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act by bringing in section 47 A which intends to prevent the conversion of wetlands to other purposes.
Under this, the power to give permission to convert farmland into residential and other purposes, that was vested with the tahsildar till then, was entrusted to the district collector. Realtors say it is difficult to stop the conversion of wetlands until the government introduces a stimulus package to make agriculture remunerative. With the land price in skyrocketing, selling it is seen as more profitable.
FACTFILE
1 In Tamil Nadu, there is no restriction for purchase of any agricultural land
2 However, the maximum land which can be purchased is 59.95 acres
3 An agricultural land (dry land) can be converted into a non-agricultural land by orders of the collector, provided no farming was carried out on the land in the last 10 years prior to the date of conversion
4 As per the provision of Land Reforms Act, a family with five members can own 15 standard acres of agricultural land. Additional five acres is allowed for every member of the family, but all together the maximum a family can own cannot exceed 30 standard acres