Chandigarh, July 23 -- Amid opposition from farmer bodies and rival political parties to its move to acquire large chunks of land in the state, the Punjab cabinet on Tuesday approved amendments to its land pooling policy, offering better terms to landowners in lieu of pooled land. Announcing the amendments after a meeting of the state cabinet here, chief minister Bhagwant Mann said farmers who opt for land pooling will now receive an annual livelihood allowance of Rs.1 lakh until their land is developed - a fivefold increase from Rs.20,000 given by previous governments, and those offering one kanal of land will get an alternative of 125 square yards of residential land and 25 square yards of commercial land per kanal of land in return. The CM said the government has also assured long-term support by announcing a 10% annual increment in this Rs.1 lakh amount. "To ensure faster and more transparent processes, the government will now issue a letter of intent (LOI) to farmers within 21 days. For the convenience of farmers, the LOI can be sold or used to obtain loans. Furthermore, until development work actually begins, farmers can continue cultivating their land and will receive an additional Rs.50,000 per year from the government," he said. Throughout the process, there will be no restrictions on the sale or purchase of land. Farmers will be free to buy, sell, or register their land at any time. Mann also slammed the Opposition parties for spreading "false propaganda" against the land pooling scheme. "They are misleading landowners. If landowners do not want to offer their land to the government, it does not mean they cannot sell it to someone else, take a loan by mortgaging it. They can continue cultivating their land and are free to do anything. If they want to offer their land under the scheme at a later stage, they can still offer it," he said. He added that the farmers who opt for the land pooling scheme can also continue farming activities until urban development work starts over their portion of land. These changes in the land pooling policy, which the cabinet approved, were first announced by housing and urban development minister Hardeep Singh Mundian on Monday to further streamline land acquisition by the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authorities (PUDA) and other special development authorities. The AAP government has initially rolled out the policy in 27 cities, including Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Mohali, to acquire an estimated 40,000 acres of land. A spokesperson of the chief minister's office said these amendments aim to make the land collecting process by the department of housing and urban development more efficient, inclusive, and attractive. The Punjab government had earlier introduced the Land Pooling Policy 2025 to involve landowners, promoters and companies as stakeholders in urban development and to encourage participation in land pooling. To gather feedback for the policy, the state government conducted several meetings with sarpanches of various villages, representatives of different unions, and farmers, he said, adding that based on the suggestions received, amendments have now been incorporated into the policy to make it more progressive, rational, and development-oriented. It was also decided that no charges other than external development charges (EDC) will be levied in the case of land pooling involving 50 acres or more. Additionally, landowners surrendering commercial land will receive three times residential area in return. "For example, if a farmer contributing one acre opts out of a 200-square-yard commercial plot, they will instead receive a 600-square-yard residential plot. In such a case, the farmer will be allotted a total of 1,600 square yards of residential land in the urban estate for each acre contributed," the spokesperson said....