The Congress party has decided to oppose proposed Gujarat Vittal Innovation City(GVIC), a high-tech multi-product special economic zone at Umargan on the southern tip of Gujarat.

A Congress MP from Valsad, Kishanbhai Patel on Monday held a meeting at the Hanuman Mandir in Kalgam and promised the farmers present in the meeting, that he would pressure the centre to cancel the permission that has been given to proposed GVIC SEZ.

State Congress General Secretary Gaurav Pandya who is known for his proximity to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s political adviser Ahmed Patel, said that the farmers should not give even a single ft of land to the government for proposed GVIC.

District Congress President Dhirubhai Mehta, Secretary of the party Milanbhai Desai, District Congress Vice President Rakesh Rai and other Congress leaders were present in the meeting which lasted for two hours.

It should be mentioned here that GVIC is facing bottlenecks in its bid to acquire 2,500 acres of land for the Rs 11,500-crore project. N Vittal, head of the GVIC and a Gujarat cadre former IAS official met Gujarat chief secretary D Rajagopalan on this issue last week, and complained about the delay.

GVIC has recently tied up with the South Korean government for setting up a Korean Industrial Complex, where 55 top South Korean companies wish to put up their units. S Korean vice-minister Do Youp Kwon signed an MoU in the presence of Chief Minister Narendra Modi in January 2009 at the Vibrant Gujarat investors’ summit.

State-owned Korea Land Corporation has already set up office in New Delhi for the purpose. South Korea wants to start the project in January 2010 when its president will be in India for Republic Day celebrations.

GVIC has further tied up with the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation for setting up a Rs 1,000-crore ‘Helicopter City’, which would include a maintenance, repair and overhaul hub. Talks are also in progress with several other giants from Japan and Taiwan.

According to a recent report, while 50 per cent of the land required by GVIC belongs to the government, rest of it has to be privately bought. Vittal has found it strange that two GIDC officials involved with transfer of land to DVIC were transferred out!