Uttar Pradesh withdraws nod for 3 pvt SEZs

NEW DELHI: The Mayawati government has struck again. After casting a spanner in Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group’s (ADAG) proposed special economic zone (SEZ) in Greater Noida, the Uttar Pradesh government has now withdrawn the state approvals for three private sector SEZs that were put up for consideration by the board of approvals (BoA) on Thursday.

The state has said it wants to take a re-look at all state-level approvals for SEZs given by the Mulayam government. As per the tightened SEZ rules, state government approval is necessary before a proposal is taken up for clearance by the BoA.

Uttar Pradesh has also asked the Centre to defer the proposal for ADAG’s multi-product SEZ in Noida till the committee appointed by the state Cabinet to look at contiguity issues submits its report. The state recently cautioned the Centre that the proposed Noida SEZ might be breaching contiguity norms as a road runs through it.

The three proposals from the state that were deferred include Dolphin Developers’ leather SEZ in Kanpur, Shipra Estates’ multi-product SEZ in Kanpur and Purvanchal SEZ, and textile park’s textile SEZ in Varanasi.

The four SEZ proposals of the Uttar Pradesh state industrial development corporation (UPSIDC), however, have been cleared. These include textile, leather and engineering goods SEZs in Kanpur and an SEZ for carpet and handicraft in Bhadohi.