SEZs freeze lifted, but cut to size
New Delhi : Yielding to backlash from various quarters, the Centre on
Thursday decided to put an end to compulsory land acquisition by the
state governments for Special Economic Zones and limited the size of
SEZs to 5,000 hectare.
The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) of SEZ, which met here, also
cleared 83 SEZs with no dispute and increased the processing area of the
SEZs to 50 per cent of the land size.
"The decision will be applicable to all SEZs including those which have
already been notified," Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath told
reporters after the meeting.
The move follows opposition to the SEZ policy from various political
parties including the Left and the massive protests by farmers against
acquisition of farm land.
According to the decisions taken on Thursday, compulsory acquisition of
land for SEZs by the states under the Land Acquisition Act would not be
allowed, leaving it to the developers to directly purchase land from
farmers.
Further, the states would be empowered to reduce the size of SEZs below
the 5,000 hectare limit set by the Centre.
Nath said under the new Relief and Rehabilitation Policy, which would be
finalised soon, at least one member of the displaced family would have
to be employed in the project. This would be in addition to the
compensation paid to farmers.
With the freeze lifted, the government would approve all pending
applications where there is no land dispute.
Of the 234 SEZs with formal approvals, 63 have already been notified,
while 83 more were today cleared for notification. The Board of
Approvals will now take up 162 SEZs with in-principle approval and 140
pending applications.
The decision on limiting the size would hurt plans of companies such as
Reliance Industries which is setting up mega SEZs like Maha Mumbai and
one near Gurgaon.
posted by Sudarshan Rodriguez at 11:17 AM
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