One kanal is equivalent to 505.857 square metres. Under the land pooling policy, a land owner will be given a 1,000 square yard of residential plot and a 200 square yard of commercial plot in fully developed land in lieu of one acre of land, the state government had said earlier. Mann said if a farmer does not want 200 square yards of a commercial plot, then he will be given an additional 600 square yards in a residential plot, which will then become a total of 1,600 square yards. A Letter of Intent (LoI) offering a 1,000 square yard residential plot and a 200 square yard commercial plot in lieu of one acre of land will be issued within 21 days of a farmer opting for land acquisition through land pooling.Punjab Chief Secretary K A P Sinha said that the farmers will be able to get a loan against the letter of intent.”Farmers will not face any financial loss,” said Mann. The state cabinet had last month given its nod to the land pooling policy and had then asserted that not even a single yard will be forcibly acquired from land owners. The AAP government has been facing flak from the opposition parties, which dubbed the land pooling policy a “looting” scheme to “rob” farmers of their land. Even farmer unions, including the Samukta Kisan Morcha, have also opposed the scheme. After clearing the policy last month, Mann had said it was designed to foster transparent and planned urban development across the state. Meanwhile, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring today accused the AAP government of trying to cheat the farmers by promising compensation that it is not in a position to pay. “It is like a postdated cheque on a crashing bank”, he remarked. Responding to the government decision offering acre-based compensation to farmers till the area is developed, Warring observed, this is a diversionary tactic to befool farmers by the AAP government.”Farmers will not bite the bait”, he asserted, while pointing out, “when the government doesn’t have enough money to run its own day-to-day affairs, pay the salaries or pay the promised Rs 1000 to every woman, where will it get the money to pay the farmers?” “This is a ploy to defraud the farmers and make them walk into the trap”, he warned.
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