Panchayat
forced to cancel the 400 hectare resolution with Adani Group.
Until a month ago the Adani Group, the proponent of the Mundra special
economic zone (SEZ) in Kutch district of Gujarat, had been on a roll,
buying land at dirt-cheap rates, though some in the political circles
and the real estate market smelled a scam in it.
Then something unprecedented happened. The people of Zarapara village
near Mundra port revolted. On April 15, over 3,000 villagers forced the
panchayat to cancel the resolution by which 400 hectares (ha) of the
gauchar land (pasture) was given to the company and declared that not
an inch of the land would be given for the SEZ, potentially the biggest
in the country.
| GRAZING
ON PASTURES |
| VILLAGE
NAME |
GRAZING LAND GRANTED TO
ADANI GROUP (million sq m) |
PRICE
AT WHICH THE
LAND WAS SOLD (Rs per sq m)
|
| TUNDA |
0.85 |
4 |
| SHIRACHA |
0.41 |
4 |
| NAVINAL |
0.93 |
4 |
| ZARAPARA |
4.02 |
11 |
| MUNDRA |
4.86 |
25 |
| GUNDALA |
0.09 |
10 |
| LUNI |
0.74 |
8 |
| BAROL |
0.2 |
10 |
| GOYARSAMA |
0.27 |
10 |
| MOKHA |
0.42 |
8 |
"We propose to cancel the previous resolution which was passed
clandestinely to grant the pasture to the Adani Group.
"If the panchayat does not act on this resolution passed by the gram
sabha, we will propose to dissolve the village panchayat because it has
forged a nexus with the Adani people to illegally acquire our pasture,"
said Valji Gadhvi, the convenor of the Save Gauchar Committee.
The Adani Group refutes the charge. "We have been allotted the land
following proper procedure. If any issue has cropped up, it is internal
matter of the village's governing body, and the company has nothing to
do with it," said Hiren Shah, a representative of the group.
The village, which has 9,000 heads of cattle, has also challenged the
panchayat's resolution in the Gujarat High Court and threatened that it
would not let the company begin work on the land.
The Zarapara land deal is just the tip of the iceberg.
As per government norms, 16 ha of gauchar land is allocated per 100
animals and cannot be sold. The Adani Group has taken gauchar land in
about 10 villages surrounding the Mundra port (see table: Grazing on
pastures). People in other villages have also started agitating against
the arbitrary decisions taken by panchayats. The real shock, however,
lies in the price at which the Adanis got the land.
An exercise in land grabbing?
Re 1 per square metre. That is the price at which Gautam Adani, ranked
91 on the Forbes' World Billionaires list, bought some land tracts from
the Gujarat government for the SEZ coming up on the northern shore of
the Gulf of Kutch. The extraordinary subsidy, acknowledged by the
government in the Assembly, covers over 5,000 ha Adani has received in
14 villages in and around the Mundra port.
On the other hand, in Dhrub village, for instance, other companies were
given land at Rs 60 per sq m, while Adani clinched the deal between Rs
12.5 per sq m and Rs 25 per sq m. In Mundra village, Adani was offered
land at Rs 25 per sq m, while others were charged over Rs 70 per sq m.
After levelling and zoning the tracts into plots, the Adanis are now
selling them to private companies at rates ranging from Rs 800 per sq m
to Rs 2,000 per sq m. According to residents of the area, the current
value of land in Mundra taluka is between Rs 123 per sq m and Rs 3,700
per sq m. The government has allotted pieces of land in Dhrub for
industrial development to Mahalaxmi Enterprise, Balaji Industries,
Omega Enterprise, Anmol Enterprise, Shriji Industries, Keshav
Industries and others at rates between Rs 60 per sq m and Rs 70 per sq
m. In Mundra, the government took Rs 72 per sq m from Swati Energy and
Project, Sujyoti Free Invest, Blue Sea Enterprise, Jay Ambe Enterprise,
Prince Enterprise and Shaurya Enterprise.
Moreover, in the last assembly session, the government admitted that
about 15 salt-pan lease holders had surrendered their land, and that
the government had granted them to the Mundra sez. The government
stated that in Mundra, Dhrub and Zarapara villages, 479 ha was granted
to the sez proponent at Rs 25 per sq m. In Tunda, Shiracha and Navinal,
1,096 ha were given to the Adanis. These land tracts were returned by
salt-pan workers.
A Congress MLA from Kutch, Babu Meghji Shah, said the Mundra SEZ is
nothing but a realty scam facilitated by the state government to
benefit the Adani Group.
"In Dhrub, land value is close to Rs 1.5 crore per acre (Rs 3.7 crore
per ha). But the state government has granted land to Adani at Rs
40,000 per acre (Rs 89,500 per ha). This suggests under-the-table
dealings between the Narendra Modi government and the Adani Group,"
Shah said.
The Tata Group bought land for a power plant in villages near the
Mundra port at Rs 14.8 lakh per ha. Shah asked why the government had
not charged the same amount from the Adanis.
Officials in the district collectorate and district panchayat refused
to provide any details, but declared that they acted on instructions
issued from Gandhinagar.
"The administration in Mundra and Kutch is acting like an agent of the
Adanis, trying to facilitate every stage of transaction, from
identifying land to acquisition and possession," said a local
real-estate agent.
Representatives of the Adani Group were not forthcoming on the Mundra
dealings. They said Mundra Port and sez was a listed company and
necessary details were provided in the red-herring prospectus at the
time of its initial public offering last year.
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