Gujarat, often regarded as the land of ‘prosperity’ seems to be becoming the land of scams with the unearthing of high-profile Mulasana and Dumas land scams. The villagers from Old Pahadia in Dehgam, will also tell you that villages can also be sold!

The Opposition Congress claimed that land scams worth crores of rupees are impossible without the involvement of the ruling party in the state.

Amit Chavda, leader of the Congress in the assembly, wrote a letter to the Speaker of the Gujarat Assembly Shankar Chaudhary demanding convening a 10-day assembly session over the issue of frequent land scams prevailing in Gujarat.

Chavda brought up the infamous Mulasana land scam, relating to a ₹20,000 crore land scam that sent former collector of Gandhinagar, S K Langa to jail, alleging the government’s direct involvement.

The Opposition also mentioned 2,000 crore Dumas land where former Surat Collector Ayush Oak allegedly defrauded the government by arbitrarily entering the name of tenant farmer into the official records of government land which is against the Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Land Act, 1948.

In Dahod, the Opposition accused the government of encroaching land of tribals as the officials allotted lands to those who were not farmers.

“Top leaders are involved, yet no action is taken against them,” as per Chavda.

He mentioned Sanskar Dham land in Ahmedabad, and Dehgam’s recent land scam where a village was sold by the accused, all happened under the eye of CM Patel.

“The Gujarat High Court had to order the return of 108 hectares of grazing land given to Adani in Kutch,” added Chavda.

“Corruption networks operate extensively and systematically, from the highest level to the lowest level of employees, only then can favouritism, treasury loss, and harm to the common public occur. When corruption is exposed, the government creates an impression of ‘action against the accused’ by suspending one person or filing a complaint against them,” they added.

The Opposition accused the government of taking no concrete steps to dismantle this network, especially against prominent people. 

CM lacks decisive action on scams

Chavda said that Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel is considered “gentle” yet “firm”. However, in such land scams, he is gentle but not firm in taking action. Many land scams have occurred in the state, but to date, it has not been made public what investigation took place and what report came out. Therefore, by staging such investigations, a few people are sent to jail while the big names are protected. 

The Opposition then demanded a report of all the land scams in the upcoming monsoon session of the Legislative Assembly.

Also read:

₹2,000 cr Dumas land scam: Valsad collector Ayush Oak suspended

₹20,000 cr Gujarat land scam exposed: how a nexus of builders, politicians and officials syphoned off cattle land