A decade later, Modi's plans for Dholera development still a dream

Pratapsinh Chudasama (44) has seen most of his friends gradually migrate to bigger cities as he continues to man a shop in Dholera, a town that has long been identified with the Narendra Modi government’s development agenda. There are others who’ve stayed back like retired primary school principal and farmer Bhaubhai Mer (68), while his sons have moved on.

On how the ambitious project — Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) — has progressed over the years some 110 km away from Ahmedabad, Chudasama says, “some construction activity has begun a few kilometres away from here. Officers also come in cars frequently to visit the place.’’ He hopes, ‘’someday the project might create employment and bring back our people.’’

Mer has told his sons to ‘’at least fight for the farm land wherever they are. For us villagers this is the only livelihood.” He was referring to the government’s efforts to acquire private land under the state’s Town Planning Act for Modi’s pet project — Dholera SIR, which was supposed to come up as the ‘Shanghai of India’.

Spread over a proposed area of 920 sq km, spanning 22 villages in the Dhanduka taluka of Ahmedabad district, the Dholera SIR is the biggest greenfield industrial smart city project that was conceived in 2007 when Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat. Notified in 2009 under the Gujarat Special Investment Region Act, the Dholera SIR is the node in Gujarat for the proposed Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) between Delhi and Mumbai covering 1,483 km and passing through six states.

Dholera SIR is being overseen by the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Ltd. (DMICDC) and Gujarat government special purpose vehicle (SPV), Dholera Industrial City Development Ltd. (DICDL), with AECOM, a US-based consulting firm, implementing the project as the Programme Manager. Land acquisition is being undertaken by the Dholera SIR Development Authority (DSIRDA).

Land acquisition issues

The project has not been without its share of controversies, much of which stems from the land acquisition process from farmers.
 

Marking the south-north limit of DSIRDA, the 34-km stretch between Ambali and Bavaliyari villages is mostly wasteland, with strips of private arable land. Though inundated right now due to recent heavy rains in the Saurashtra region, the flood-prone agricultural land will be plush with the geographical indication (GI) tagged Bhalia wheat, chana and cumin (jeera) crops, assures Mer.

Mer is part of a dwindling yet defiant group of farmers in and around Dholera who are trying to keep government and industry at bay. For now, there’s relief for farmers as the Gujarat High Court (HC) stayed the land acquisition process for the Dholera SIR.

Project slowdown

The stay has however slowed down the project, forcing it to work on the government land alone for now. Even so, Jai Prakash Shivahare, chief executive officer of DSIRDA, is confident that the work on activation area of 22 sq km will be completed by mid-2019. He believes the remaining phase will be completed by 2022. Divided into three phases comprising two town planning (TP) schemes each, the project has set a deadline of 2022, 2032 and 2042 for each phase.

While Dholera SIR has managed to bag the environment clearances, the construction work will be limited to only government land for now.
 

The problem has multiplied as farmers have alleged arm-twisting by the government in acquiring land in some cases. The Town Planning Act is also being legally challenged.

“Under the Land Acquisition Act, the government will need 60-70 per cent consent from villagers for acquiring land. However, under the Town Planning Act, government can forcibly take possession of 50 per cent of our land and allot the rest 50 per cent in some other area,’’ says Pradyumnasinh Chudasma, president of the Bhal Bachao Samiti, a committee set up by farmers from the 22 villages in the region to fight for their land rights. ‘’Though it will pay us compensation for the 50 per cent, what will the farmers do if we are allotted wastelands in return,’’ he asks.
 

The state government, on the contrary, maintains that the “transparent” process looks to engage farmers as partners in the project and would protect their interests.  “We are reaching out to the villagers and assuring them that they will not lose their livelihood.  The Town Planning Act mandates that if the original plot was in agricultural zone, the final plot to be allotted to private land owners will also have to be in agricultural zone,” Shivahare told Business Standard.

Signs of take-off

The ministry of civil aviation and DGCA have given their in-principle approval for the international airport which will ease traffic for the Ahmedabad airport, according to Shivahare.  The NHAI is also working on a six-lane expressway between Ahmedabad and Dholera while there are plans for extending rail links that will connect future freight traffic to DFC, he points out. ‘’Work orders worth Rs 3,000 crore have been released through DMICDC. We have begun search for anchor tenants in the SIR and are looking at big names in aviation, defence, electronics and engineering to come in. We are fully on track and there is no delay.”

A signboard that says ‘Proposed Dholera International Airport’ across the Pipli-Fedara Road comes as a glimmer of hope for a project that was conceived a decade ago and is still a long way to go.