The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has begun investigating the disappearance of 21 files from its Central Zone Estate Department, with the records linked to complaints about illegal construction and unauthorised commercial use in areas of the city’s historic core.
The matter came to light after the municipal commissioner ordered a vigilance inquiry into complaints concerning construction and property-use changes in the walled city. According to Nav Gujarat Samay, the Central Zone Estate Department acknowledged that 21 files could not be located when the vigilance department sought records relating to buildings in the Shahpur area and other parts of the old city.
The missing files concern properties and construction activity in locations including Halimni Khadki, Vachlo Vankarvas, Shahpur Mill Compound, Mota Kumbharwado, Dudhvali Pol, the area near St Xavier’s School in Mirzapur, Ghee Kanta Sheth’s Vando, Delvali Khadki, Dudheshwar Ravi Estate, Lallubhai’s Pol, Rajasthan Society, the area behind the Sabarmati Riverfront, Vanmali Vanka ni Pol, Tavdipura and Dhobighat.
The report said the records were sought as part of a wider examination of alleged unauthorised construction and the use of properties for purposes different from those approved by the civic body. It alleged that some properties approved for residential use were later being used commercially, while older properties inside pol neighbourhoods were being acquired and converted into commercial premises. These allegations have not been independently established in the material supplied for this report.
The issue has broader implications for Ahmedabad’s historic core, where residential neighbourhoods, traditional pol houses, commercial activity and heritage structures exist within a densely built urban environment. The source report said rising commercial activity has contributed to congestion and parking pressure in parts of the walled city, including Manek Chowk, where pedestrian movement has become difficult. It also cited municipal sources as saying that about 2,700 heritage properties in the core area are registered with a heritage trust.
The report further said the commissioner sought information about missing records connected with heritage-property restoration and instructed officials to file a police complaint after the files could not be traced. The exact number of heritage-related files involved is not clear in the source material, which gives inconsistent figures. The Central Zone deputy estate officer could not be reached for comment, according to the report.
The missing records are significant because estate and development files contain the administrative trail behind permissions, inspections, complaints and enforcement action. Their disappearance could make it more difficult for the civic body to establish how construction or changes in property use were approved and whether subsequent action was taken.
The vigilance inquiry and proposed police complaint are the next formal steps identified in the report. The municipal authorities have not publicly established responsibility for the missing files or confirmed the allegations of collusion and illegal commercial conversion described in the source report.
