Process of land procurement for new towns : case: Amaravati (State Capital), Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

Land is necessary to all production No man created the land, but all it take from the earth a portion of it and shape it according to their use. Land has becoming the most vital asset in the global economy and is an asset which is being passed on from one generation to other generation. “Land is the only thing in the world that amounts to anything”…- Margaret Mitchell “The land belongs to the future”… - Willa Cather There are different approaches and mechanisms used to develop land all across the world. The main approaches to managing developed land in urban areas are the land acquisition, land pooling, and land readjustment. Sometimes the mechanism is the same but term used for the procedure is different in different countries. Land procurement is to provide land for development which needs to be efficiently formulated and effectively implemented as it brings overall, integrated and substantial development of the city/town. The study aims to understand the Land procurement process of Amaravati and bring out comparative inferences in terms of mechanism adopted, financial outlays, social impacts to land owners, landowner’s role and say in developmental process, authority’s benefits / constraints etc. The study is divided into two stages. Primary study includes Studying Amaravati’s area profile & philosophy for new town development. Interviewing and focus group discussion with government officer & land owners, their understanding on process, owner’s role & say. Social impact assessment in terms of condition before land procurement and after land procurement. Compensation & rehabilitation packages offered and understanding are they better off now after procurement. Collection of data like maps, documents etc. Whereas secondary study includes concepts of town planning and development for new towns & cities by different philosophers. Study procurement process in India and Abroad. Literature review of Dholera SIR, Chandigarh, Navi Mumbai, Gandhinagar, Bhubaneswar and Naya Raipur in terms of Philosophies of town planning, procurement process adopted, benefit of each process. The study is important for the development of upcoming new towns/cities and other large scale development. Study can help to develop a framework that can be possibly adopted by Government authorities to plan their new developments.