Farmers move Gujarat High Court challenging land rezoning for Olympic infrastructure

Ahmedabad: A group of farmers have approached Gujarat High Court against the state government's decision of rezoning their agricultural lands into a designated "Restricted Institutional, Sports and Leisure Zone (KZ3)" as part of its preparation for building infrastructure for claiming to host the 2036 Olympics.

A total of 57 farmers from Godhavi village have moved the high court jointly through advocate Nadeem B Mansuri. The farmers have said that in 2014 their land was declared as a General Agricultural Zone but in September 2024 it was changed to KZ3. Godhavi is located on the outskirts of Ahmedabad and falls under Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority's jurisdiction.

Requesting the court to quash the notification of rezoning, the petitioners have said that they are "poor farmers" who have "time and again objected to Godhavi being declared Olympic zone."

"...however the Petitioners being the poor farmers have never been considered for serving justice by the authorities," the petition stated. It further said that these petitioners have no other skill other than farming and the government's decision threatens their livelihood.

The petitioners have stated that the rates of the properties since 2011 and the land they own is way higher than what the government rate (jantri) are offering if their lands are acquired by the government. The petitioners have also questioned that declaring Godhavi pocket as KZ3 "in the guise of public interest" and said the government "is ignoring the pain of the local farmers and it defeats the purpose of the whole concept of sustainable development." The petitioners have claimed that they have been objecting to the decision of declaring their village as Olympic zone since day one.

The petition also raises issues related to fair compensation and grant of plots to other locations, which are not satisfactory to the villagers. "The plots owned by the farmers (original plots) are in the centre of village Godhavi and the plots allotted are on the outskirts boundary of the village which is also going to affect the farmers economically as well as emotionally," the petition read.

The matter is likely to be taken by the court on July 24. Under the change of scheme, the government is likely to use about 500 acres of land in the village to permit construction of educational, institutional, sports and recreational activities.

Recently, a delegation led by Gujarat Minister Harsh Sanghavi and president of Indian Olympic Association P T Usha met top officials of the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland to officially stake claim for hosting the 2036 Olympic games here. The government is pumping thousands of crore to revamp sports infrastructure across Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar for this purpose.