States told to allot barren land for SEZs

NEW DELHI: Commerce & industry minister Kamal Nath has written to all chief ministers asking them to ensure that the land acquired for special economic zones (SEZs) in their respective states is primarily waste or barren land. Agricultural land may be acquired only if necessary to meet the minimum area requirements.

The minister has also requested the chief ministers to ensure that the developers provide for adequate relief and rehabilitation package for the affected. He suggested that states could also consider appropriate training programmes in such areas for the affected families.

This would also solve the problem of finding trained manpower for SEZs. Mr Nath, in his letter, reiterated that a general consensus emerged at the SEZ Board of Approval meeting last week that mainly waste and barren land and, if necessary, single crop agricultural land alone should be acquired for the SEZs.

It was also discussed with the state government representatives that if perforce a portion of double cropped agricultural land has to be acquired to meet the minimum area requirements, the same should not exceed 10% of the total land required for the SEZs, Mr Nath said.

The BoA for Special Economic Zones is expected to take up 266 pending proposals for SEZs with projected investment of $80bn and employment potential of 18 lakh before October 10.