This is the first time the government has published the rates before finalising them in hopes of feedback from the public.

The hike is unprecedented, even more than the prevalent market value of the land in the border district, say brokers.

“The new rates are sky-high, with the proposed increase in ASR being over 200 per cent,” said Kunverji Naran Patel, president of Estate Brokers’ Association.

Patel said that they were not against the increase, but it should be rational and based on ground reality. The market rate is between Rs150 and Rs 400.

Kamlesh Sanghvi, who has been in the business for over three decades, said the jantri rates had been revised from time to time. The last major increase made in 1999 was based on a survey conducted by then stamp duty deputy collector M H Gadhavi. “He visited every village, met the sapranch and talati to know the land price and recorded it in the very presence of two prominent village leaders.” The new rates, he added, belong more to Ahmedabad and Vadodara.

Rajani Patwa, president of Kutch Association of Civil Engineers and Architects, said it will seriously hamper rehabilitation-related construction in this quake-hit border district. “We are going to oppose it big way and may even take legal recourse.”