Patil SEZ no to agricultural land

NEW DELHI: Union home minister Shivraj Patil is not in favour of allowing the use of agricultural land for setting up special economic zones (SEZs).

���Land which is good for agriculture should not be acquired for SEZs as far as possible. No irrigable land should be acquired and only barren land should be taken for SEZs,��� Mr Patil said in his address at a seminar on ���Relief and Rehabilitation of Displaced Persons��� organised by the National Human Rights Commission here on Monday.

Mr Patil���s view endorses a recent recommendation of the administrative reforms committee (ARC) chaired by Mr Veerappa Moily. The ARC, in its report submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had opposed the use of agricultural and irrigable land for setting up SEZs.

The Centre, Mr Patil told the seminar on Monday, was looking at amending the land acquisition law to ensure adequate compensation to the SEZ-displaced, both monetary and psychological. According to the minister, the government will be incorporating certain issues in the existing laws. ���It is before the Standing Committee and soon Parliament will discuss it,��� he said. ���When a person is not ready to sell his land and it is acquired through the law, he has to be compensated financially as well as psychologically. Besides, land for land is also acceptable,��� he said.