SEZ policy ‘snub’ has partners sulking
Sunday, January 7, 2007
Calcutta, Dec. 6: A day after the government said it would not allow “new big” special economic zones in districts where such projects are already lined up, Left Front partners cried foul over being “kept in the dark about such an important decision”.
Commerce and industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen had also said small SEZs that don’t need more than 250 acres can be considered for approval depending on merit.
“We have come to know through newspapers that the government has announced its policy on SEZs. But this was not discussed at the Left Front meeting,” alleged CPI state secretary Manju Kumar Majumdar.
CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan said the party’s national council, which ended its three-day meeting today, discussed the issue in detail. “We are opposed to setting up SEZs on agricultural land, whether it is small or big.”
RSP’s Manoj Bhattacharya said the government had gone back on its word. “At the last front meeting on December 29, it had been decided that the coalition partners would be consulted and provided maps and other details on land acquisition. So, how can the government announce its policy on SEZs without discussing it with us?”
PWD minister Kshiti Goswami, also from the RSP, accused the government of being “bourgeois” for its “new-found friendship with Tatas and the Salim Group”.
However, S.R. Pillai, who heads the CPM’s peasant wing, made it clear that there was no option but to acquire farmland “for the sake of industrialisation. The only thing is that the aspect of food security will have to be looked into before land acquisition”.
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posted by Bimal 1/07/2007 01:06:00 PM,
