Rs13,500 crore to Rs18,000 crore Is the estimated value of the
11,200 hectares of land given to the industry by the state govt, since 2007. The area of the land given to industry at a rate far lower than the prevailing market rate would be approximately half the size of Gandhinagar‘s total expanse or nearly 1/4th of Ahmedabad city.
The Narendra Modi government in the state seems to be on a bhoodan spree. The government has given away thousands of hectares of land worth hundreds of crores of rupees for industrial purposes, in many cases at throwaway prices, to private companies in the last few years, according to figures provided by the state government to the Assembly onThursday.
According to official figures, the state government has given out more than 11,200 hectare- approximately 112 sq km - land for industries in the recent years. The size of the land given away for industrial purpose is equivalent to more than 50% of the total area of Gandhinagar, which is 205 sq km.
The government has generously doled out land to all and sundry in the past four to five years, but major beneficiaries of the liberal land allotment policies have been Adani, Reliance, Tata, L & T and Essar, which have been given huge chunks of land for setting up various industries.
State government figures show that Adani Group was given more than 5,200 hectare land in Kutch (Mundra), mainly for its port and power projects and related infrastructure. The Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries Limited got more than 1,700 hectare land in Jamnagar, mainly for its oil refinery.
While land has been allotted for industries all over the state in the last few years, Kutch, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Surat and Rajkot are some of the cities where highest land allotment has been made. Large tracts of land have also been given to industries in Amreli, Kheda, Bharuch, Bhavnagar and Banaskantha, according to the state government.
The opposition Congress has, however, come down heavily on the state government for giving away large tracts of land to favoured industrialists at throwaway prices, at the state's cost.
"Demands for land by farmers, tribals and farm workers have remained unheard, while the state government has given away thousands of hectares of land for industries in the recent years.
This shows that the BJP government is willing to favour select industrialists while ignoring the interests of the common man," said leader of opposition, Shaktisinh Gohil.
The state government has maintained that majority of the land allotted to industries was wasteland and grazing land.Tata Group was another major beneficiary of the land giving spree of the Narendra Modi government. Tata Motors was given more than 445 hectare land at Sanand for setting up Nano car plant.
Another Tata group company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), was allotted large chunk of land in Gandhinagar. The company was given more than 12 hectare land in the state capital for its IT project.
Engineering & construction major, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), which is constructing the Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, was allotted more than 360 hectare land by the state government in Hazira belt, Surat, mainly for setting up its boiler and turbine making units.
Sterling Infrastructure, which is setting up a special economic zone, was allotted more than 1,263 hectare land in Bharuch for the project by the state government.
Nirma, Raheja Corporation, Suzlon Energy, Torrent Pharma, Netenko Wind Power, Bharat Hotel, Ultratech Cement, Marck Biosciences, Jyoti Limited and ABG Cement are some of the other private sector companies that have been given huge tracts of land by the state government.
Many of these companies had signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with the state government during the Vibrant Gujarat Summits in 2007 and 2009.
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