The efficacy of this policy was soon proved by the smooth acquisition of 310 acres of land for the international airport at Mohali. The process, which required acquisition of land from 175 farmers, was completed expeditiously with farmers being paid a record compensation of Rs 1.50 crore per acre.

Subsequently, the Government also acquired 2,500 acres of land for Guru Gobind Singh Oil Refinery at Bathinda, a joint venture between HPCL and the Mittal Group. Around 2,213 acres of land was acquired for Talwandi Sabbo, touted as the biggest thermal plant in the country. Another 1,000 acres were acquired for a thermal plant in Goindwal Sahib, 2,000 acres for a thermal plant in Rajpura and 2,640 acres for a power plant in Muktsar. The new policy has also been successful in solving earlier controversies. For example, acquisition of 376 acres of land by textile major Trident Group near Barnala had set off a serious agitation during the previous government’s tenure. But the situation came under control after compensation was offered to farmers under this scheme.

Buoyed by this, the Government has announced a land-pooling scheme to accumulate land in order to minimise delays for various projects. Here, the farmer would have the option of either taking half the developed land and some compensation, or he can get compensation for the entire land at market rate. For example, if out of the land acquired from a farmer, the Government develops four residential plots and two commercial showrooms, the farmer would get two residential plots and one showroom besides a fixed amount of compensation.