The Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) launched what officials are calling the most extensive anti-encroachment drive in the city’s history on February 23, 2026. Targeting 1,489 illegal structures in the Jangleshwar locality and along the encroached stretches of the Aji riverbed. The operation aimed to reclaim an estimated 87,000 square metres of land 55,000 square metres along the riverbed and 32,000 square metres under the town planning road scheme. The drive was ordered by Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi and executed by the RMC with police support, with Municipal Commissioner Tushar Sumera personally monitoring operations from an on-site control room. By the end of the first day, 1,119 structures had already been demolished, with the remaining expected to be cleared by Tuesday evening. The operation was carried out across a 2.5-km stretch divided into seven operational zones, each supervised by a Class-1 officer.
How the Encroachment Took Root
Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi stated that government plots in Jangleshwar had been forcibly occupied, with structures subsequently rented out to residents, meaning many of the households demolished were tenants, not the original occupiers who profited from the encroachment. This distinction matters. In most large-scale urban demolition drives across India, the residents bearing the immediate burden of displacement are rarely the original land grabbers. Of 187 PASA cases registered in Rajkot, 58 were concentrated in Jangleshwar alone, and authorities also cited gambling dens and narcotics activity in the locality suggesting that the area had developed outside any formal governance framework for an extended period.
The Legal and Regulatory Context
The operation was ordered by the Deputy Chief Minister and executed under Section 163, with Rapid Action Force, state home guards, and local police deployed across seven operational zones each supervised by a senior officer. Water and electricity connections were disconnected prior to demolition, and advance notices had been issued to residents , though affected households reported receiving as little as three days’ warning. The 2.5-km operational stretch along the Aji riverbed falls within ecologically sensitive land where construction is prohibited under both municipal and environmental regulations making any structure there legally indefensible regardless of occupancy duration.
What This Means for Property Buyers Across India
The Rajkot demolition is a working illustration of a risk that exists in property markets well beyond Gujarat. Structures built on riverbank buffers, TP road alignments, or government-reserved land carry no legal protection and no compensation entitlement in most demolition scenarios. For buyers evaluating property in older urban localities or peripheral zones, the due diligence checklist should include: confirmation that the plot does not fall within any river buffer zone, verification of town planning scheme status, sight of RMC-approved building plans, and a clean title deed chain tracing back to the original land grant.
