In a written reply on Friday to the Gujarat legislative assembly, the BJP government in Gujarat has stated that over the past two years, 1,038 sq.km of gau char and government land have been handed over to industrialists.
The reply came to a query raised during the budget session.
The Congress has alleged that such generous offering by the state government to the more affluent business-owners comes instead of providing 50-100 square metres of land to the poor for residences.
According to the figures presented in the budget session of the Assembly, 103,29,35,124 square meters of government land has been sold or leased. The government has also admitted to handing over more than 18 lakh gau char lands in Lhani.
The approximate size of land sold in the last two years is thus twice the size of Ahmedabad, the largest city in Gujarat. After a recent demarcation, the carpet area of Ahmedabad city has been determined at 530 square kilometres.
District-wise statistics reveal that the highest number of businessmen who bought such land are from Kutch, at a staggering number of 95 crore 65 lakh. This figure only pertains to rent or sale of government land. Details of waste and grazing land provided by the government for Kutch have not been disclosed.
