Congress alleges trade-off in prime land in Gujarat

Ahmedabad, Dec 7 (UNI) Calling it as the largest ever corruption scandal of the Gujarat government before elections, Arjun Modhwadia, Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Legislative Assembly today alleged that the Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) claimed to have been signed for the IT Park development sector worth Rs 11,000 crore are meant for the real estate sector.

Mr Modhwadia in a release here said that the state government intends to acquire valuable lands at prime locations at negligible prices only to hand it over to its most favoured builders raking in huge profits. ''This is the largest ever corruption scandal of this government before elections,'' he said.

Raheja Builders is a company without any experience in IT sector but known as real estate developers. The government wants to hand over 100-acre land from Indroda village to Koba in the vicinity of Gandhinagar town at a nominal price of Rs 566 per sq metre. This company is estimated to have benefited to the tune of Rs 200 crores.

Similarly, DLF Infrastructures is expecting land at Rs 205 per sq mtrs. Thus, the state government has pocketed Rs 1,000 crore by allotting land to its favorite builders before elections, said Mr Modhwadia.

Citing the example of allotment of 39-acre land in Gandhinagar for establishing Info City at the price of Rs 600 per sq mtr by the government in 2001, which attracted criticism, Modhwadia said even though land prices increased manifold ranging between Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000, the state government is allotting these land surrounding the capital town to the builders and industrialists as if they are needy and poor.

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