Reliance hopes new SEZ guidelines are not final

DATELINE

NEW DELHI, APR 16: Days after the government limited the size of special
economic zones (SEZs) to 5,000 hectares, Reliance Industries has said
the revised rules may not be final.
"We will go to the government, we will place our ideas with them, and we
are sure that they will change their mind," RIL director Anand Jain, who
also heads Reliance's SEZ venture, said in an interview aired on Monday
by private news channel.

RIL, which is developing massive SEZ projects in Maharashtra and
Haryana, was the hardest hit after an empowered group of ministers
(eGoM) on April 5 decided to put a 5,000 hectares cap on the size of SEZs.

The size of both the Maha Mumbai SEZ and multi-product SEZ near Gurgaon
proposed by RIL exceeded the land limit. According to the channel, Jain
insisted that Reliance would not get around the revised rules to proceed
with its SEZ plans and said that he does not consider these rules as final.

"I am sure this is not final. There is much more to come. This is a
policy that is evolving. We have had an incident, Nandigram. This is an
instant reaction to this," he said.

While reacting to the government's decision to distance itself from
acquiring land for SEZs, he said: "The government cannot have it both
ways. They cannot insist on the SEZ being on contiguous land and then
refuse to get involved..."

When asked how RIL would acquire land in the face of protests by farmers
and activists, he told the channel that the compensation package to
farmers will be like a lottery.

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