In a deep-rooted scam dating back to 1918, the land in Gandhinagar’s Mulasana, given as a charity for the cow grazing on a 99-year leasehold, was bought by the scammers and the bogus documents were made for the same land by the officials and so-called leaders. This piece of agricultural land was granted the label of being ‘NA’ (non-agricultural) by the then Gandhinagar collector S K Langa. 

However, little did the scammers know that just labelling the land ‘NA’ would not clear the title of the land. The land in question, with clearly made agreements and papers about the purpose of its use on May 12, 1918, spreads over 2,300 bighas and is priced at ₹20,000 crore.

Putting it all on SK Langa, covering up the big picture

It is indeed a tough pill to swallow that Langa alone would be responsible for a scam that accounts for a staggering ₹20,000 crore. Everyone, including the politicians of Gujarat, builders, so-called elites, to those sitting on the high chairs in Delhi, would know that this cannot be a one person job. 

Well placed sources say that prior to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a conspiracy took place, involving the top-to-bottom government officials, builders, and politicians of every strata. The scammers went on to create bogus documents of this land in Mulasana which deprived the protected and permanent, rightful beneficiaries of the land, by hook or by crook.

History repeats itself: The infamous ‘chaara ghotala’ 

For years now, former minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's name has been connected to the fodder scam or 'chaara ghotala', where millions of rupees were allegedly reimbursed from the Bihar treasury for fodder, medicines and animal husbandry supplies, for the cattle that never existed. Today, the elite and powerful of Gujarat have snatched the grazing lands, a pond meant for the cattle, and the village outskirts.

Since Langa's arrest, no efforts to investigate on how the shape of the type of the land was changed since no one is authorised to change the original state of the land. The government records of the land must have been tampered with, but that direction was never explored by the investigators. 

From the original 1918 agreements, it is clear that the land was presented as grazing land for cattle, government fallow (bare land), a pond, and the outskirts of the village. The scammers have made all these a private property and have conspired to sell it. The alliance of officials and politicians must have made it possible to label the land as NA.

The poor stay poor, and the rich get richer

According to the land documents, the land was given away as ‘panjarapol’ (the shelter to house the cattle) on a token rent by the Patel and the Sidi families. It is also mentioned that at the end of 99 years in future this land will be sold and given to panjarapol.

The rent of this land was paid from the amount donated by the public for the maintenance of the cattle/cows. The elites and their alliances have not even backed down from grabbing this property given away by a farmer and a Muslim family, paid for by the public to sow the grazing grass.

In 1975, 200 families were sowing the land, providing fodder for the cattle. The scammers must have forcibly evicted the rightful and protected land-keepers, and taken the land from them with forged documents.

The shape and the type of the land were changed, and it was sold after being labelled as ‘non-agricultural’ (NA). Experts believe that the shape and the type of the land must have been changed by the builders and the elites before selling them, as the current condition of the land does not, at all, match the agreements that were made in 1918. 

Agreements don’t apply to the elites

The land was given on the leasehold of 99 years by Sulaiman Kasam, Sidi Sulaiman Umar, Hirachand Prandas Patel, and Sut Ambaram Hirachand. The agreement was renewable, meaning it would renew itself every 99 years. The rent, at the time of the agreement, was agreed at ₹3001 annually. 

According to the agreement, even if possession of the land was to be relinquished before 99 years, the payment would be the annual amount only.

If the land is evicted by the government, the compensation amount should be paid to the original owner, states the agreement. Moreover, if the government takes over more than 25 bighas of the land, the rent of the remaining land should be calculated and paid afresh. It is apparent that all these agreements mean nothing to the scamsters, for a land that is 'Shree Sarkar' (owned by, and in the name of the government)!

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