Home Ministry pressed for time on SEZ clearance
The delay results in postponement of discussions on at least a couple of proposals at every meeting of the BoA.
By PTI |
NEW DELHI: A fortnight's notice is proving too short a time for the Home Ministry to conduct security threat assessment of many of the proposals to set up Special Economic Zones, leading to a delay in their clearance.
"Though the detailed agenda is dispatched to all the members of the Board of Approval (BoA) for Special Economic Zones 15 days before a meeting but in some cases the security clearances take time," officials said.
The delay results in postponement of discussions on at least a couple of proposals at every meeting of the BoA.
Officials maintained that a representative of a Home Ministry sits on the BoA and there was no need for a separate set of guidelines to speed up security clearances.
The SEZs for which security clearances are taking time are generally related to those which are located close to border or strategic locations.
Among the prominent proposals that have been delayed due to delay in security clearance include those from Tatas, who have proposed a SEZ in Gopalpur in West Bengal. The security threat assessment of the proposal is taking time as the zone is located close to a strategic establishment.
The first proposal to set up a SEZ in a Northeast state has also been deferred due to security reasons.
The developers of the proposed multi-product SEZ spread over an area of 1,012 hectares in Assam - Shyam Burlap Co Ltd - had aproached the Board for Approval directly instead of going through the state government.
While that was perfectly according to the rules, the BoA decided to refer the matter to the state government for its view.
"The state government's comments are awaited," officials added.
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