‘Govt records of Metro Rail land parcels incomplete’

Gandhinagar: The state government on Friday tabled details of the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar Metro Rail project in the assembly session held on Friday.

The auditor presented that land admeasuring around 20 hectares for the project was questionable in nature.

He deemed the government’s records as incomplete and stated that some documents were not available. Incidentally, these revelations were put forth on a day when the House passed the Land Grabbing Prohibition Amendment Act, 2022.

During the ongoing budget session of the Gujarat state assembly, the urban development department tabled the 11th Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) Limited’s (GMRCL) annual report for the year 2020-21.

According to the independent auditor’s report, it was observed that the GMRC did not have valid documents of the title deeds of freehold land situated at survey number 525 at Kathwada, Vastral area of Ahmedabad admeasuring 18,000 square metres which comes to around two hectares. Its market value as on March 2021 was Rs16,82,50,000.

The auditor also noted that land situated at final plot number 56 and 285 at Ahmedabad Apparel Park (SEZ) admeasuring 17.62 hectares was allotted by the Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) to the Metro company for the construction of a depot.

However, the mode of transfer of this land from GIDC to the company has not been decided by the government of Gujarat. “The land transfer is unquestionable,” he mentioned in the report.

The AhmedabadGandhinagar Metro Rail project has been a dream project of then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, but it has yet to see the light of the day.

It was conceptualized in 2003 and the project was put on paper in 2005. And, 16 years on, the project is yet to see materialization.

Despite several route changes, the Corporation has been able to run only the pilot metro stretch of six kilometres in Ahmedabad, which citizens treat as a joyride.