Gandhinagar, July 11: The Gujarat government has announced the allocation of free government land for five years to nine newly formed municipalities to aid in the development of essential civic infrastructure.
This decision, made by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, applies to the municipalities of Mehsana, Nadiad, Anand, Navsari, Vapi, Morbi, Gandhidham, Surendranagar, and Porbandar.
The government stated that this initiative aims to strengthen urban local bodies and enhance their administrative responsibilities, enabling them to provide basic civic services more efficiently.
Under this decision, municipalities will receive government land free of charge for the construction of public utility projects deemed necessary for urban development. This benefit will be available for the next five years.
Eligible projects under this scheme include public buildings such as municipal service office buildings, fire stations, sewage treatment plants, water purification plants, underground sewage networks, pumping stations, water supply infrastructure, solid and liquid waste management plants, rainwater drainage systems, anganwadis (kindergartens), town halls, community halls, and conference centers.
According to the state government, the nine municipalities were previously classified as ‘A’ category municipalities and have recently been upgraded to municipal corporations.
This change includes a significant expansion of their jurisdiction, increasing the demand for civic infrastructure and public services. To facilitate this transition, the government has decided to simplify the land allocation process at the district level to expedite development activities in the newly expanded municipal areas.
The formation of these nine municipal corporations followed the Gujarat Cabinet’s approval on January 1 of last year to upgrade the nine ‘A’ category municipalities. This marks the first expansion of municipal corporations in the state in 14 years since the establishment of the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation in 2010.
As a result, the total number of municipal corporations in Gujarat has increased from eight to 17. Initially, district collectors were appointed as administrators until elected local bodies are formed.
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