Citizens’ Research Collective on SEZ

Sandeep Joshi

New Delhi, March 12, 2008: The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday witnessed noisy scenes with MPs, cutting across party lines, targeting the Government on the issue of Special Economic Zones (SEZs). They accused it of allowing corporate and industrial houses to grab land from farmers and ignoring violation of the SEZ Act by developers. Though the Centre ruled out any change in the Act as it was “working well,” it assured the House to look into any issue relating to misuse or abuse of the law.

‘Modern zamindars’
Raising the issue during question hour, Communist Party of India (CPI) MP, D. Raja said through SEZs, the Government was only creating “modern zamindars.”

“The SEZ developers are not only flouting the SEZ Act and building cinema halls and shopping complexes in the acquired land, they are also getting tax benefits and are not following labour laws,” he alleged.

He asked the Government to amend the SEZ Act as recommended by the Parliamentary Standing Committee and remove anomalies.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP Sitaram Yechury urged Rajya Sabha chairman Hamid Ansari to allow a detailed discussion on the issue. His demand was supported by MPs from the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Samajwadi Party and others. Mr. Ansari agreed.

Replying to members’ queries, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said SEZs have become important engines of economic growth and were helping to generate employment as well as attracting investment. This was mentioned in this year’s Economic Survey.

“At the moment, there is no proposal to amend the SEZ Act as it is working well. Things have changed over the past two years and SEZs are giving employment and helping economic growth of the country,” Mr. Nath said, and assured agitated MPs to look into the matter of any violation in the form of illegal commercial exploitation of the land in SEZs.

“SEZ Act has been passed by Parliament. If there is any misuse or abuse, we will be very happy to look into it, if specific cases are pointed out,” he said. The Government had not conducted any study or assessed the impact of the recent economic slowdown on exports from SEZs. It was too early to determine whether the global slowdown would affect Indian exports, he said.

Source: The Hindu