Ahmedabad, 22 April 2012

It seems for Gujarat Congress even the issue of Gauchar land will not prove attractive in next assembly election campaign.

Revenue department of Gujarat government has already prepared a policy draft on pastoral land(gauchar) to comply with the last year’s Supreme Court order.

CL Meena, Principal Secretary (Revenue) has in talk with the Indian Express correspondent Kapil Dave said that the govt has finalized the draft for the new gauchar policy ahd sent it to Finance department for their final views. “We expect to get it cleared soon,” Meena added.

As per the Indian Express report quoting Meena the policy has following provisions:

-No pastoral land to be given to industrial or commercial purpose. Govt will also ensure these are not encroached against the interest of local community.

-If gauchar land is in middle of an urban area, the government will denotify and sell the land and develop pastures at an alternate site.

-New gauchar (pastoral) land policy to comply with the last year’s Supreme Court order asking state govt to not sell govt owned pastoral land for industrial or commercial use.

-If gauchar land is in middle of an urban area, the government will denotify and sell the land and develop pastures at an alternate site.

-In some cases, the govt has given land for some public purposes, for instance, schools, which require adjoining gauchar land. In such cases, we will sell the land to them and use the money in developing new pastoral land.