Farmers will get back fertile land acquired for SEZ: Minister

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: Making it clear that fertile farmland will not be acquired
for the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) projects, the State Government on
Thursday said that it would return fertile land to farmers if such lands
had been acquired for SEZ.

Major and Medium Industries Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu made this
commitment at a press conference in Banagalore after holding a meeting
with representatives of Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association
(Kassia).

Responding to protests by farmers over acquisition of farmlands for
SEZs, the Minister said: "We have to acquire land for industrial
development. But such a process should not be detrimental to the
interests of farmers."

He claimed that fertile agricultural lands had not been acquired under
the SEZ. To repeated questions in this regard, he said only 60 to70
acres of fertile land might have been acquired of the total 24,000 acres
of land being acquired for the SEZ projects.

The Minister announced that two lakh unemployed educated youth in the
State would get on-job skill development training from March 11 under
the Suvarna Kayaka Udyoga Shikshana Yojane.

The industries' associations had agreed to provide such training for two
lakh persons. While the duration of the training would vary depending
upon the nature of the sector, the amount of stipend to be provided by
the industries for trainees was being worked out.

He announced that a conference of small and medium industries'
representatives would be held at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore on
March 11. About 1.5 lakh industrialists were expected to participate in
the above convention, which would be attended among others by the Union
Ministers for Finance and Commerce, the Minister said. On the occasion,
108 industrialists from small and medium industries' sector would be
honoured for their contribution to industrial development. Four
industrialists had been chosen from each district for this honour, he said.

The captains of industry from Karnataka as well as other States would be
invited to participate in the proposed convention.

Investors' meet

The Minister announced that the Government would organise an investors'
meet in Mangalore on January 22. Investment proposals to the tune of
Rs.1,000 crore were expected to be received at the proposed meet in
which leading industrialists from different districts of Karnataka as
well as other States and countries would take part, the Minister said.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/01/13/stories/2007011310220400.htm