250 plots in hand, civic body renews demand for govt land

Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, which already has 250 plots awaiting facelift under its slum redevelopment project, wants more plots from the district collector.Five years ago, the civic body demanded about 50 plots totalling 8 lakh sq m from the district collector for its slum redevelopment and housing schemes. In 2020, the then district collector Sandip Sangle rejected this demand, saying the plots demanded by the AMC were either reserved as gauchar land or did not have clear ownership titles.After a gap of four years, the civic body has repeated its demand for more plots. This time, it has reduced its demand for plots at prime locations to about 1 lakh sq m. According to sources, district collector Dhaval Patel agreed to give these plots to the AMC during a recent meeting with AMC chief M Thennarasan.Sources said senior officials at the collectorate were taken aback by AMC’s demand for more land since it had just started developing 50 of the total 250 plots it already has. According to the rules, AMC reserves 2% to 5% of land for housing schemes for the economically weaker sections (EWS) in every town planning scheme. So, in addition to the 250 plots, the civic body already has land for this purpose.Collectorate sources said when the civic body demanded the 50 plots five years ago, it included 26 government-owned plots and 24 plots with encroachments. “The deputy collector had told the collector that other government departments also had pending demands for land. This was one reason why the demand was rejected,” said a source in the know.Sources said in its renewed demand for land, the AMC had identified plots in prime locations such as Ranip, Bodakdev, and Gota. Central government departments have already demanded some of these plots to build staff quarters. Sources said if the AMC develops its reserved land first, the slum dwellers can be rehabilitated there, and the government plots can be cleared and used for additional housing projects.Sources said that in 2010, the AMC had conducted a slum area survey and had identified about 700 plots across the city. Of these, 250 were either already in AMC’s possession or transferred to the AMC. Under the slum redevelopment policy, the AMC was to prioritise 100 plots for slum redevelopment. However, the AMC did not adhere to this priority list and demanded more land from the government. In 2016, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, in its annual report, rebuked the civic body for not developing the land it already had.