SEZ land rules have enough safeguards'

Our Bureau

So far not a single farmer displaced: SEZ approval board chief 





Bangalore , Sept. 26

The Chairman of the Board of Approvals for SEZs on Tuesday sought to allay fears of land-grab and misuse and said the rules on special economic zones had enough safeguards for agricultural land.

The 150 zones cleared so far had not displaced a single farmer; nor would the 260-plus SEZs coming up for approval by October 10 harm farmers, Mr Gopal K. Pillai, who is also Special Secretary in the Commerce Ministry, told an interaction on SEZs here.

As for the fiscal concerns - that there would be loss of direct tax revenue of up to Rs 1 lakh crore and Rs 28,000 crore in indirect taxes - his view was that the economic benefits of these zones would outweigh the tax exemptions.

"There are lot of misconceptions about SEZs. The Board of Approval does not see any real estate scam," Mr Pillai told the session organised by the Bangalore Chamber of Commerce & Industry. "Give us another year (for the full impact) and see what happens. We can tweak the rules and make it as seamless an operation as possible; the main aim of SEZs is to eliminate the transaction costs as much as possible."

However, the last word on SEZ rules had not been said; the Commerce Ministry was addressing the grey areas and continuously fine-tuning the rules.

The revised rules ensure that 40 per cent of the SEZ area should be greenery; 90 per cent of an SEZ should be barren, waste or single-crop land; or not more than 10 per cent of area may be double-crop. According to Mr Pillai, the approved and pending SEZs account for barely 75,000 hectares or a minuscule portion of the country's cultivable land.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/09/27/stories/2006092703870300.htm