NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, AUG 22
The Gujarat government on Friday announced that district collector’s permission will not be required to buy agricultural land to set up educational institutions.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has given his nod to a proposed amendment to the Gujarat Tenancy and Agricultural Land Act so that non-farming individuals and entities can buy agricultural land to set up educational institutions without any hassles, said a government release on Friday.
At present, the collector’s permission is mandatory for such individuals or entities to buy agricultural land for such purposes.
The proposed amendment will be applicable for setting up ‘agricultural university, animal husbandry university, medical college, engineering college, and other educational institutions’, the release said.
Opposition Congress criticised the proposal.
“The BJP government’s only aim is to destroy agriculture and farmers and help their favourite business houses. Earlier, they handed over government and gauchar land to industrialists.
“Now, Tenancy Act is being twisted to once again help BJP’s supporters in acquiring precious land,” said Gujarat Congress main spokesperson and educationist Dr Manish Doshi.
“BJP’s own people will buy this land and build self-financed colleges and private universities which charge huge fees,” he alleged.
A leading academician on the condition of ananimity said that many engineering, management and pharma institutions had already shut shop for want of students. In these circumstances, this amendment is unwarranted.
