Before Vibrant 2011, govt to reserve land near highways

The Narendra Modi government, which is gearing up for the fifth edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors’ Summit (VGGIS) in  2011, wants to sort out one big issue before the mega event: the issue of land crunch.

For this, the government is holding a meeting next week, when it will finalise the process of developing a land atlas for industrial use. 

A week before the VGGIS 2009, the state government had come up with a new industrial policy and promised to carry out all necessary reforms to promote industrial development.

However, availability of land has been a big headache for the industry, and the government now wants to relax the land laws before the next VGGIS in January.

Sources said the revenue department is planning to take a major initiative to reserve government land on both sides of state and national highways.

According to the plan, land area from 1 km to 6 km of distance on both sides of highways will be reserved. 

In addition, the government also aims to free land acquisition process from various official procedures like non-agricultural certification and clearance under Tenancy Act.