The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation sealed a garba venue on the Jagatpur-Gota Road on October 15 after organisers allegedly conducted four days of events without paying the civic body’s required rent and security deposit. The plot, used for the Faliyu garba event, was sealed by the AMC’s estate department in the presence of officials from the corporation’s North West Zone, according to a report by Divya Bhaskar.
AMC Standing Committee chairman Kamlesh Patel said the corporation had leased the plot in the Gota ward for Navratri celebrations. The organisers were required to pay ₹21 lakh as rent and ₹19 lakh as a deposit, taking the total amount payable to ₹40 lakh. The report said the amount had not been deposited even after the garba event had operated for four days.
The issue came to the attention of the estate department in the North West Zone on October 14, after which the corporation acted the following morning. The venue was sealed and the organisers’ equipment remained inside the plot, Patel said.
The organisers had applied to lease the plot around 15 days earlier in the name of Ashish Patel. Under the AMC’s stated process, applicants must apply in advance, complete the online payment and obtain the necessary permissions before taking possession of a municipal plot. Permissions from the police and fire brigade are also required for such events, according to the report.
The reported action has raised questions about how the organisers were allowed to begin operations despite the payment not being completed. The process described by the AMC requires payment before permission is granted and the plot is handed over. The report questioned the role of the estate department’s central office, the deputy estate officer of the North West Zone and the inspector assigned to the Gota ward.
The event’s organisers announced on social media that garba activities would remain closed on October 15. They also said tickets issued for that day would remain valid for October 16. The report did not provide details of any further AMC decision on whether the venue would be reopened after payment or whether additional action would be taken.
The case places the administration of municipal land at the centre of the dispute. Civic plots leased for temporary commercial or cultural activities require coordination between estate officials, event organisers, the police and the fire brigade. In this instance, the sealing followed the reported discovery that the required payment had not been made, even though the event had already begun.
The AMC’s next steps are expected to depend on the organisers’ payment of the outstanding rent and deposit and compliance with the permissions required for use of the plot. Until then, the venue remains sealed and the event equipment remains inside, according to the report.
