No clarity on meet

NEW DELHI: Confusion clouded the proposed plans of the government to lift the current freeze on notification of fresh SEZ proposals as the commerce department did not receive any intimation on Friday on the next meeting of the empowered group of ministers (eGoM).

Clarity also eluded the extent to which the freeze may be lifted as land-related issues have not been resolved so far.

While speculation was rife over a reported decision of Congress leaders to allow notification of at least 60 SEZs with land, Union telecommunication & IT minister Dayanidhi Maran went on record saying that the GoM on SEZs — headed by external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee — will meet next week to take a call on the SEZ freeze.

A spokesperson of the department of commerce, however, insisted that it has no intimation of the reported developments.

When contacted by ET, commerce department officials denied knowledge of any decision on defreezing of SEZ proposals. Officials also said that the department had not been informed about a possible date for the next meeting of the eGoM.

“Whenever a date for a meeting of the eGoM is fixed, the chairman’s office informs the commerce department. We have received no such intimation,” an official said.