Gujarat politician-builder-babu nexus "eyes" Rs 38,000 crore land, plans to shift Surat small industries location

By Sagar Rabari*
The Gujarat government decision to merge, through a Development Plan (DP), 104 villages of five talukas, Olpad, Choryasi, Kamrej, Palsana and Mangrol of Surat district, into the Surat Urban Development Authority (SUDA) is being seen as a murky move in which the politician-builder-bureaucrat syndicate would make huge real estate gains to the tune of Rs 38,000 crore.
While the move, undertaken without consulting the affected villagers, is claimed to have been made under the pretext that in the year 2035 the population of Surat would touch 1.10 crore, the proposed expansion – and this significant – is three times the present area of Surat, which accommodates a population of 45 lakh (2011 Census).
On studying plans, maps and land use calculations, it has come to light that the DP-2035, published on May 10 this year, has proposed an industrial corridor within it. People with their innate common sense can see and feel the mal-intentioned planning: They feel that it is nothing less than a well-planned land grab.
According to villagers, small industrial units in the present city are spread over almost 800 acres of land (about 324 hectares). The politician-builder-bureaucrat syndicate eyes this 800 acres of land, which is now the prime real estate.
Under the pretext of decongestion and reducing pollution, the authorities are proposing to shift industrial units to the newly-planned 1.25-2 km wide and 37 km long industrial corridor, near Pinjarat and Tena villages.
For this, 1,500 hectares (ha) of Pinjarat village and 800 ha of Tena village is going to be taken away from the farmers with the aim of relocating small industrial units as also industrial units from the nearby Hazira industrial area.
A calculation suggests that the 800 acres of prime real estate, after moving the industrial units, would be available to builder-politician- bureaucrat syndicate for more than Rs 38,000 crore. After all, 800 acres would mean 38,27,200 sq yards, and the present market of the area is Rs 1 lakh per sq yard.
Even a novice can understand where this money would go and whose development this is.
As a by-product of this development, a realization has dawned on the villagers. A bridge on the creek near village Tena is now nearing completion. The people of the village thought that the bridge was being built for them, to cut the travel time from their village to the city.
Now with the plan of relocation of the industrial units is out in the open, they find that it is not for them. While it may help them, it is actually to motivate the industries to relocate to the new area.
There is yet another story doing the rounds among the villagers. The Adani Group has built a port in Hazira, and now needs to connect it with national highway No 8 and the Delhi-Mumbai rail line. The Gujarat government, always willing to help industries in general and Adani in particular, tried to impose Hazira Special Investment Region (SIR) on farmers of 36 villages of Olpad and Kamrej taluka.
However, The SIR had to be canceled due to stiff resistance from the agrarian community, enjoying prosperity through rich agriculture and animal husbandry.
The Adani Group then tried, though unsuccessfully, to get the public sector undertaking (PSU) Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals (GSFC) rail track on rent/lease. Having failed, it tried to purchase land from the farmers for laying the rail track. It was again unsuccessful. Hence, the final game plan, to everyone’s benefit, was introduced: the SUDA DP-2035.
---
*Secretary, Khedut Samaj - Gujarat

Comments

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan* A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .

Beyond sattvik: Purity, caste and the politics of the Indian kitchen

By Rajiv Shah A few week ago, I was forwarded an article that appeared in the British weekly The Economist . Titled “Caste and cuisine: From honeycomb curry to blood fry: India’s ‘untouchable’ cooking”, it took me back to what I had blogged about what was called a “ sattvik food festival”, an annual event organised by former Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad professor Anil Gupta.

Search This Blog