Citizens’ Research Collective on SEZ

The Hindu

Nandagudi (Bangalore Rural), June 25, 2007: The proposed Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Nandagudi, which received approval from the State Cabinet recently, could rock the coming legislature session with the Congress planning to raise the issue.

Urging the Government to revoke the decision, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council H.K. Patil on Sunday told presspersons at Nandagudi that the issue of granting approval to the SEZ, which is likely to take away the livelihood of thousands of villagers, would be one of the major issues that the Congress would raise in the Council and Assembly.

“The decision is against the constitutional objectives, social justice and interests of the farmers and public,” he added.

The SEZ project is coming up on an area of 12,350 acres in 36 villages in Nandagudi hobli, nearly 55 km, from here that is likely to displace thousands of farmers.

Mr. Patil, who took a group of presspersons from Bangalore to some of the villages that are likely to be affected, urged the State Government to revoke the decision on the SEZ.
‘Unfair’

“It is unfair to offer 12,000 acres to one company. It will make the rich richer at the cost of farmers who will lose their livelihood. The decision is against the interests of the public,” he said.

“The Government has based its decision to approve the SEZ project on a report given by a tahsildar, who has been trapped on charges of corruption 12 times and his house has been raided twice. Besides the official has spent the most part of his career under suspension.” None of the senior officials in the State Government or the Chief Minister himself is aware of the extent of government land available in the area, Mr. Patil said.

Questioning the capacity of SKIL Infrastructure to execute such a mega project, Mr. Patil said,

“The company has been valued at Rs. 9,715 crore, but it reported an income of just Rs. 6.63 crore at the end of 2006-2007 financial year. How can a company with an income of just Rs. 6.63 crore make a direct investment of Rs. 15,000 crore?”

The company, he said, had divested 10,000 acres in favour of Reliance in a similar project at Navi Mumbai.

“The State Government wants to transfer such a huge asset to a company that has a track record of divesting the land to another company. What is the guarantee that the company would not repeat the same at Nandagudi”,” he questioned.

Mr. Patil was accompanied by other Congress MLCs, including Umashri, Salim Ahmed, V.R. Sudarshan and R.V. Venkatesh, and MLA N. Nagaraj.