Gandhinagar: The Gujarat Assembly unanimously passed a bill in the ongoing five-day Monsoon session, for setting up an authority to develop the area around famous Ambaji temple as pilgrimage site.
Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel proposed the bill in the house on Wednesday. The bill seeks to establish an authority for the development and management of pilgrimage tourism in and around the Maa Ambaji temple at Ambaji in Gujarat, through effective planning and administration and governance.
“With increasing number of pilgrims in Gujarat as well as in the country, the Gujarat government felt the need of developing the area. Therefore, the state government decided to establish an authority namely the Ambaji Area Development and Pilgrimage Tourism Governance Authority,” said Patel.
The proposed authority will establish, maintain and operate services connected with the pilgrimage tourism industry. The authority will acquire the land required for the development, by sale, or taking it on lease, hire or pledge or otherwise grant, donate, town planning, consent agreement or through proceedings under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
The authority will also enter into contracts, agreements or concession agreements with any person, entity, developer or organisation for performing its functions.
The provision of the Act prohibits any person to carry on any development in any building on any land within the limits of the said pilgrimage development area, without the prior permission of the authority. The person if found violating, the authority will have the power to pull down any such work or construction and restore the land.
The provisions of the bill empower the district police to assist the officers of the authority to enforce, protection and security of the development area. It also empowers the police in aiding the Ambaji Pilgrimage Tourism Authority in detection and investigation of any matters relating to leakage of revenue or any amount to the temple pilgrimage Development Authority.
The Ambaji pilgrimage tourism development area will be considered to be an industrial township and will be declared as a notified area.
