Nod for SEZs coming up on barren land in West Bengal

POLITICAL BUREAU
Posted online: Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at 0000 hours IST

NEW DELHI, MAR 19 : The CPI(M) on Monday declared that the West Bengal
government decided to go ahead with those SEZ projects which do not
require any displacement.
Making it clear that the party was fully behind Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,
CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said projects like those from
Videocon and Jindal Steel would be given the go ahead by the West Bengal
government. These proposals, including others from the IT and steel
sectors would not require any displacement or use of agricultural lands
as they would come up on barren or waste land. Sources said a total of
40 steel projects worth $620 million were in different stages of
implementation in West Bengal.

Videocon is expected to spend Rs 100 crore on setting up an LCD monitor
manufacturing unit in Taratolla, while a 10 million tonne capacity
integrated steel plant would be set up by Jindal Steel Works at Salbaoni
in West Bengal. Bhushan steel is expected to go ahead with its project
in Durgapur-Asanol area.

Karat said industrialisation and land policy was adopted by the West
Bengal government, following the Centre's decision on the SEZ. "However,
we made it categorically clear that a fresh look has to be taken in this
regard," Karat said.

The CPI(M) general secretary then made it clear that at this juncture,
the state government would put on hold all projects that would require
displacement. With regard to Nandigram, Karat claimed that there had
never been any notification by the state with regard to land
acquisition. "It was only a notice put up by the Haldia Development
Authority merely stating that the government intended to acquire land
for the project to set up a chemical hub."

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