RTI application reveals in a decade Gujarat govt handed over 81.95 crore sq m farm land to industrial houses

De-commanded

By Jag Jivan
A right to information (RTI) application has revealed that the Gujarat government has acquired and handed over a whopping 81.95 crore square metres of land to top industrial houses, most of it dirt cheap, over the last one decade. It also revealed that the price at which the land -- which belonged to farmers, or was common village gochal land meant for cattle -- varied between a mere Re 1 to Rs 900, depending on the area, but in every case much less than the prevailing market rate.
Calculated in hectares (ha), the total area handed over to industrial houses comes to 81,934 hectares (ha), all of which was given away to the tycoons either as outright sale or as lease. Of this, a whopping 28,502 ha belongs to the Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) in Ahmedabad district alone. This includes the land of 22 villages, coming under the Narmada command area. The entire area has now been decommanded, and here no farmer will be allowed to carry out any agricultural activity.
Information obtained through RTI, running into 50 pages, also revealed that on March 18, 2011, the state government passed a resolution which said that the entire area should be treated as having been "de-commanded", in the expectation that industries would heavily invest in Dholera SIR. The rate at which the area was handed over to the industrialists was a mere Rs 20 per square metre. "The farmers of the entire area have been turned into landless", a Gujarat Parivartan Party (GPP) release, based on its RTI application, said.
Quite in line with the Dholera area, in Kutch district, land was handed over the industrial houses at an even cheaper rate, the RTI details revealed. In Mundra taluka, the Adani group was handed over land for anywhere between Rs 2 and Rs 25 per square metre. The area handed over the to the Adani Group was 4.32 crore square metres, which included common grazing village land for the cattle.
Significantly, the current jantri -- which is the government assessment of the market value of land -- for the area is a huge Rs 2,500 to Rs 7,500 per square metre. Significantly, the jantri rate is always considerably less than the prevailing market rate, a certain percentage of which is fixed to be charged as stamp duty payable on each land transaction.
Further, the RTI application revealed that in Vadodara district's Savli taluka, on a 23 km stretch starting at the Manjusar Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) estate and ending at the Halol GIDC estate, a new SIR is taking shape, endangering the farmers to become landless. "In all 12 SIRs are proposed in Gujarat. If this happens, farmers of as many as 700 villages will become completely landless", the GPP claimed on the basis of the information it has received through the RTI application.
All this, the GPP alleged, handing over land dirt cheap has cost state coffers richer by Rs 30,000 crore. adding, this has happened when the Supreme Court has given "clear-cut directions" that without gram panchayat nod no land be transferred to any industrialists. In fact, after 2011, following the apex court directions, the Government of India wrote to the chief secretaries of each state that gram sabha clearance is a prerequisite for any land transfer to purposes other than agriculture. "Despite this, the apex court directions are not being implemented."

Comments

'Tax the top': Nationwide protests demand action as 1% control 40% of India’s wealth

By A Representative Civil rights groups across the country observed the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh on March 23, as people from diverse backgrounds united to raise their voices against growing economic inequality. The mobilisations marked the launch of a nationwide campaign against inequality, running from March 23 to April 14 (Ambedkar Jayanti), under the banner of the “Tax The Top” campaign.

Fair prices, fresh produce: Vegetable market opens in Rajasthan tribal village

By Vikas Meshram* On 18 March 2026, the tribal village of Sajjangarh in southern Rajasthan witnessed the grand and dignified inauguration of a new vegetable market (mandi). Established through the tireless joint efforts of the Krushi Avam Adivasi Swaraj Sangathan (Bhilkuaan) and Vaagdhara, under the active leadership of the Gram Panchayat of Sajjangarh, the market is being hailed as a cornerstone for local self-governance, self-reliance, and a sustainable rural economy.

Beyond India-China borders: Economic links expand, political gaps persist

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* Despite growing trade between India and China, a persistent trust deficit continues to shape their bilateral relationship. Expanding economic engagement has not fully resolved political differences, many of which stem from historical legacies as well as contemporary geopolitical concerns. Border disputes—often traced to colonial-era arrangements—remain a significant obstacle to deeper cooperation, while differing strategic alignments in global affairs add further complexity.

Gujarat cadre to HDFC: When bureaucratic style hits corporate walls

By Rajiv Shah I was a little amused by the abrupt March 17, 2026 resignation of Atanu Chakraborty —a Gujarat cadre IAS officer of the 1985 batch who retired from the government in 2020—as chairman of HDFC Bank . Much of what may have led to his decision to quit this ostensibly high post—actually a non-executive, part-time role—is by now well known. I followed most of it online with considerable interest, partly because I had interacted with him umpteen times during my stint as The Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar from 1997 to 2012.

Ex-IAS Atanu Chakraborty and a tale of two different Gujarat vision documents

By Rajiv Shah The likely appointment of Atanu Chakraborty as HDFC Bank chairman interested me for several reasons, but above all because I have interacted with him closely during my more than 14 year stint in Gandhinagar for the “Times of India”. One of the few decent Gujarat cadre bureaucrats, Chakraborty, belonging to the 1985 IAS batch, at least till I covered Sachivalaya was surely above controversies. He loved to remain faceless, never desired publicity, was professional to the core, and never indulged in loose talk. When he neared retirement, which happened in April 2020, first there were rumours in Sachivalaya that he would be appointed SEBI chairman, and then there was talk he would be chairman (or was it CEO?) of Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City (a dream project of Narendra Modi as Gujarat chief minister, which as Prime Minister Modi wants to promote, come what may). But, for some strange reasons, and I don’t know why, none of this happened, despite the fact...

Witnessing Iran beyond propaganda: Truth, war, and the path beyond western paradigm

By Naile Manjarrés On June 23, 2025—marked as the 2nd of Tir, 1404, on the Persian calendar—a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was announced. This "night of the decree" shifted the trajectory of global affairs; although the world may appear unchanged on the surface, we have yet to fully grasp its impact.

Operation Epic Fury: Making America great at the world’s expense?

By N.S. Venkataraman* The decades-long enmity between Iran and Israel is well-documented, but historically, their direct confrontations have been brief, constrained by the logistical and economic limitations of sustained warfare. The current conflict in the Middle East, however, marks a radical and dangerous departure from this pattern.

Environmental expert urges policy overhaul as forest and water resources face critical decline

By A Representative On the occasion of World Forest Day and World Water Day , observed on March 21 and 22, environmental voices from the Western Ghats have issued a stark warning to the Union government, calling for an urgent paradigm shift in how India manages its interconnected natural resources. In a formal communication addressed to Union Minister for Jal Shakti , Sri C R Patil , and Union Minister for Forest, Environment and Climate Change , Sri Bhupendra Yadav , policy analyst Shankar Sharma has highlighted a growing disconnect between sectoral policies and the holistic reality of resource governance.

From chemicals to self-reliance: Women-led initiatives drive sustainable farming push

By Bharat Dogra Farmers in Bariyarpur village of Ajaygarh block (Panna, Madhya Pradesh) are increasingly adopting sustainable and self-reliant farming practices, responding enthusiastically to new opportunities created by recent development initiatives.

Search This Blog