CPM not anti-SEZ, Centre must amend laws: Yechury

Press Trust Of IndiaPosted online: Monday, January 22, 2007 at 0000 hrs
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Kurukshetra, January 21: CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury today said his
party was not against Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and asked the Centre
to amend laws relating to them so that the farming and labour community
is not put at disadvantage and not displaced.

The government needs to amend the laws relating to the quality of land
to be acquired for SEZs, besides paying “adequate compensation” not only
to the farming community but also to the tenants of the agricultural
land, he said after delivering the convocation address in the National
Institute of Technology here. The party MP said the land use must be
given priority for setting up the industry and basic infrastructure
rather than real estate, which was unproductive.

“We are not against SEZ but we want that it must favour the
agriculturist classes rather than the real estate people and moreover it
must give returns to the government too.”

Yechury said due to the “inconsistencies” in the laws and bylaws for
SEZs, the “property giants” were converting the metro peripherial areas
into only residential estates and not industrial or manufacturing units.

“As is the case of Maha-Mumbai, so is the case of Delhi NCR. The metros
are growing fast as the residential properties and not productive units.
It is at the disadvantage of the people and the government,” he said.

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