CM hikes circle rates of agriculture land in Delhi, tariff now based on location

Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has approved a proposal of the revenue department to hike the circle rates for agricultural land in Delhi and those adjacent to the Yamuna barrage, officials aware of the matter said on Monday.

From the earlier uniform agricultural land circle rate of ₹53 lakh per acre, the government has increased them depending upon the districts they are located in.

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The circle rate for agricultural land will be ₹5 crore per acre in the South and New Delhi districts, ₹3 crore per acre in North Delhi, West Delhi, North West, and South West Delhi; ₹2.5 crore per acre in Central and South East Delhi; and ₹2.25 crore per acre in Shahadra, North East, and East Delhi. Barring urbanised villages in South West Delhi where the circle rate will be ₹4 crore, the rates remain the same across green belt, rural and urbanised villages.

The new rates were announced by revenue minister Atishi during a press conference at the Delhi secretariat on Monday. These have been sent to the lieutenant governor (LG) for approval.

If approved by the LG, the revised rates — last done in 2008— will mean greater revenue for both landowners and the government. While landowners will get more money when the land is sold or acquired, the latter will also see increased cash flow in the form of registration charges.

The circle rate is the minimum value fixed by the government at which a property has to be registered in case of its transfer.

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Kejriwal said farmers have long been demanding a rate hike. “The farmers of Delhi have been asking for a long time that the rates of their agricultural land be increased. A few years ago, we increased them, but due to some reasons, they could not be implemented at that time. Today, I am happy to inform all farmers of Delhi that your demand has been fulfilled,” he said in a tweet.

Revenue minister Atishi described the move as a “momentous decision in favour of the farmers”.

LG VK Saxena’s office did not respond to HT’s attempts seeking his response to the announcement.

Delhi currently has 360 villages, according to revenue department records. Of these, farming is carried out in about 200 villages, while the rest of them are largely urbanised, officials said.

A revenue department official said the hiked rates are likely to speed up land acquisition for infrastructure projects and other public purposes. Until now, farmers were being compensated on acquisition of their land based on the 2008 rates, which were significantly lower than the prevailing market rates, making owners unwilling to give up their lands, officials said.

“Since 2008, the circle rate for agricultural land in Delhi has remained stagnant at ₹53 lakh per acre. This lack of revision deprived farmers of fair compensation for their lands,” Atishi said.

Devinder Singh, a farmer at village Nangal Thakran in Narela, said, “If the government is really concerned about the farmers of Delhi, then why are they not providing us subsidies like are available for rest of the farmers in India? This enhancement of circle rates is nothing but propaganda.”

Experts suggested that the government should bring land reforms to help villagers and farmers for their development.

“... the land reforms can help villagers and farmers by providing them opportunities for securing a village development plan with planned land use change to get residential area for their family and commercial space for livelihood as income from farming is not lucrative anymore owing to decrease in land ownership in families,” said Paras Tyagi, co-founder of Centre for Youth Culture Law and Environment, which also conducts research and is involved in advocacy for rights of village people in Delhi.