Ahmedabad: AUDA has refused to pay Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation (GMC) Rs 376 crore demanded by the civic body for developing basic infrastructure facilities in those villages that were previously under AUDA but have now been brought within the municipal limit. Instead, AUDA is ready to offer to the municipal corporation plots of land earmarked for residential and commercial purposes, which can be sold to developers in order to raise funds for infrastructure development.

As many as 18 villages, which were previously under AUDA and GUDA, have now been brought within the municipal limits and the civic body needs money to provide basic facilities like water, gas, electricity and roads there. GUDA is already paying from its coffers money that GMC is spending in villages it has merged from GUDA. The controversy is now raging over money needed for developing basic amenities in the villages that have been merged from AUDA. The GMC has already completed the bidding process to initiate work on this front.

The municipal commissioner at GMC, therefore, asked AUDA to pay Rs 376 crore for developing infrastructure in those villages that were under AUDA previously. But AUDA has flatly turned down the demand by the municipal commissioner. Instead, it is open to offering plots of land in these villages that can be sold to real estate developers and proceeds can be used for infrastructure development.

AUDA will offer plots in Khoraj, Sughad, Bhat, and Jhundal to GMC. The land in these areas is very expensive. GMC would earn crores of rupees after selling these plots. When the new delimitation happened, the government had issued a circular informing that residential and commercial plots in TP schemes, which can be sold, would remain under the control of the respective urban development bodies.

As many as 51 TP schemes from villages previously under GUDA and AUDA both now fall within the municipal limits, of which 21 TP schemes of AUDA are now under the GMC limits. There are 10 or more sale deed plots in each TP scheme, and this fact should offer some sort of financial assurance to the civic body. DeshGujarat.