The so-called Land Pooling Policy, touted by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab as a visionary move for urban development, is facing increasing criticism from farmers, civil society, and opposition voices. At the heart of the criticism is the claim that the policy is nothing short of a dubious and deceptive scheme — one that threatens to rob Punjab’s farmers of their ancestral lands and destroy the state’s rich agricultural legacy.
Critics argue that the Bhagwant Mann-led government, under the direct influence of AAP’s Delhi high command, is blindly pushing an agenda that prioritises real estate interests over the well-being of Punjab’s farming community. Instead of protecting the rights of those who feed the nation, the government appears to be enabling a large-scale land grab — allegedly orchestrated to benefit politically connected elites and land mafias who stand to gain enormous profits from the forced urbanisation of fertile agricultural land.
“This so-called land pooling policy is nothing but a dubious scheme designed to rob farmers of their ancestral lands and livelihoods under the guise of urban development,” say farmer advocacy groups and opposition leaders. Their concern is that once the land is acquired or pooled into urban projects, farmers will have little to no control over their future, and compensation — if given at all — will be grossly inadequate.
Punjab, a state that earned the title of “Granary of India,” is being pushed toward an uncertain future where farmland is turned into commercial plots and luxury townships, leaving its agrarian backbone shattered. Thousands of families who have tilled the same land for generations now face the threat of displacement, economic ruin, and loss of identity.
Farm unions, environmentalists, and legal experts have raised alarms about the opaque nature of the policy’s implementation. There is little to no public consultation, minimal transparency, and mounting suspicion that the real beneficiaries are not the common citizens but corporate builders and political power-brokers.
Moreover, this policy seems to be in direct contradiction with Punjab’s own needs. The state is already facing severe ecological challenges, from groundwater depletion to soil degradation. Converting agricultural zones into concrete jungles will only worsen the crisis, leading to long-term socio-economic and environmental consequences.
In a state already burdened with farmer suicides, youth unemployment, and growing rural distress, this policy feels like a betrayal — one that prioritizes profits over people. Rather than protecting and uplifting its backbone — the farmer — the AAP-led administration in Punjab seems intent on breaking it.
As opposition mounts and voices grow louder across villages and towns, the government must be held accountable. The future of Punjab cannot be dictated by urban development blueprints drafted in Delhi boardrooms. The land belongs to the people who live on it, work on it, and preserve it for generations to come — not to the land sharks and political elites who see it as nothing more than a financial asset.The people of Punjab are watching — and they are demanding justice.