Somewhere in Ahmedabad....

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) just got first hand experience of generosity of the people of Ahmedabad, when the owners of around 1514 commercial and residential units agreed to give away land worth Rs 125 cr to the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS)! Call it the AMC's good negotiation skills or denizens' good spirit to part with as much as 86,700 sqm area. But owners of around 1399 commercial units and 114 residential units have agreed to hand over 10 ft to 16 ft space from roadside shops for widening of the road in 7.3 kms of the area from Kalupur bridge — Naroda Patiya — Naroda Bethak of the BRTS. Interestingly, majority of the shopkeepers are pulling down the construction as demanded by the AMC voluntarily. According to the realtors and brokers in Naroda, if sold, the 86,700 sqm area in the stretch would fetch at least Rs 125 cr. The process of explaining, negotiating and convincing owners and tenants of the units was not an easy job for the AMC officials as landmark buildings like Kalupur fruit market, Arvind Mill compound, Synthetic Mill complex apart from corporators' shops, were also in the stretch. However, it is believed that some of the units are illegally constructed.