600,000 Illegal Homes Regularized Through ‘Impact Fees’<\/p>\n
Dilip Patel
\nAhmedabad, May 18, 2026
\nNow that the local government elections have concluded, the BJP’s Bhupendra Patel has once again begun demolishing the homes of the poor. In stark contrast, the illegal homes of the wealthy\u2014as well as encroachments on *Gauchar* (pasture) lands\u2014are being regularized.<\/p>\n
In Gujarat, despite encroachments on over 160,000 hectares of *Gauchar* land, these illegal structures are not being removed; instead, bulldozers are rolling over the homes of the poor.<\/p>\n
Encroachments currently exist on 7,650 plots of *Gauchar* land; these are not being cleared because BJP leaders and major corporations have vested interests in them.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, during the Modi era, a special law was enacted specifically to regularize hundreds of thousands of illegal homes belonging to the wealthy.<\/p>\n
This demolition drive was carried out amidst scorching heat in a residential colony near Jadeshwar Park in Jamnagar.
\nNanduben stated, “We purchased this land 40 years ago from a man named Shantilal. My son has passed away, and I live here with his widow and two children, supporting the family.”<\/p>\n
The law is not applied equally to everyone; bulldozers invariably target the homes of the poor and the helpless.<\/p>\n
In the name of “development,” havoc is being wreaked, leaving the poor destitute and out on the streets.<\/p>\n
The police detained an elderly woman after physically assaulting her. She was bundled into a police van and taken to the police station. On May 14, 2026, the Estate Branch of the Jamnagar Municipal Corporation\u2014assisted by 35 municipal employees and 20 police personnel\u2014reclaimed government land valued at \u20b93.50 crore; however, in the process, all sense of humanity was cast aside.<\/p>\n
It is estimated that over the 25 years of the “Modi Raj” (Modi’s rule), 500,000 huts and homes have been demolished across Gujarat. Metropolis
\nBetween late 2025 and 2026, 25,000 huts and houses were demolished in Ahmedabad.
\nDuring 2025 alone, a total of over 8,000 structures were demolished; this included 3,831 houses and 4,216 encroachments removed to facilitate road widening projects. In 2026, land was cleared across several locations: 2,000 huts (covering 12,500 units across 400,000 sq. m.) were removed in two phases at Chandola Lake; 450 illegal houses were removed at Bapunagar\u2013Malek Saban Lake; and 450 structures (covering 54,883 sq. m. of land) were cleared at Vatva\u2013Vanarvat Lake.<\/p>\n
In the Makarba area, 13 illegal shops (covering 7,597 sq. ft.) were removed.<\/p>\n
Somnath
\n700 encroachments were removed. Government land worth \u20b939 crore was freed from illegal occupation: 11 encroachers voluntarily vacated the land, while legal action will be initiated against two others.<\/p>\n
Grazing Lands (Gauchar)
\nThe illegal encroachment of grazing lands designated for livestock is a persistent issue.
\nAcross 26 districts of Gujarat, a total of 7,653 instances of encroachment have been recorded.<\/p>\n
In Porbandar district alone, 1,932 instances of encroachment have been recorded.<\/p>\n
965 in Mehsana
\n784 in Anand
\n636 in Junagadh
\n589 in Gir Somnath
\n586 in Banaskantha
\n511 in Rajkot
\n369 in Gandhinagar
\n232 in Amreli
\n223 in Bhavnagar
\n182 in Ahmedabad
\n109 in Kheda
\n83 in Morbi
\n80 in Narmada
\n78 in Kutch
\n80 in Botad
\n66 in Valsad
\n38 in Sabarkantha
\n26 in Dahod
\n21 in Aravalli
\n18 in Vadodara
\n11 in Navsari
\n7 in Mahisagar
\n7 in Bharuch
\n4 in Surendranagar
\n3 in Panchmahal\u2014these are the pending cases.<\/p>\n
Impact Fees
\nThe Government of Gujarat’s “Gujarat Unauthorized Development Regularization Act, 2022 (GRUDA)”<\/p>\n
Some details derived from Assembly responses and city-wise reports:<\/p>\n
In Ahmedabad, under the “Modi Act” of 2011, out of 250,000 applications received, 126,000 constructions were regularized (under the 2011 Act).<\/p>\n
Those structures that were entirely illegal did not apply. Thus, it can be estimated that there are 300,000 illegal homes in Ahmedabad alone.<\/p>\n
Furthermore\u2014even though illegal homes should not have been constructed in the first place\u2014<\/p>\n
An additional 75,973 applications were received after 2022.<\/p>\n
In Surat, the volume of regularized structures is half that of Ahmedabad. It is possible that all 300 cities [in the state] harbor as many illegal homes as Ahmedabad does.<\/p>\n
In Gandhinagar, 4,000 applications were received for the regularization of illegal constructions.<\/p>\n
In Bhavnagar, 4,375 applications were received. There are 3,000 illegal houses in Jamnagar. They are not being demolished, while the homes of the poor are being torn down. (Google Translate from Gujarati)<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
600,000 Illegal Homes Regularized Through ‘Impact Fees’ Dilip Patel Ahmedabad, May 18, 2026 Now that the local government elections have concluded, the BJP’s Bhupendra Patel has once again begun demolishing the homes of the poor. In stark contrast, the illegal homes of the wealthy\u2014as well as encroachments on *Gauchar* (pasture) lands\u2014are being regularized. In Gujarat, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[14842,14843,14844],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/allgujaratnews.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/12.jpg?fit=1437%2C857&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paUKPQ-e2i","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53958"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53958"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53961,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53958\/revisions\/53961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allgujaratnews.in\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}