-The Telegraph
“Land issues are critical… I think the minimum size is something that needs to be looked at again definitely. You are not going to find 5,000 (hectares) of land area, it is a pipe dream. It’s not going to happen… I think that’s something we need to talk about,” commerce secretary Rahul Khullar said at an Assocham conference on SEZs here.
A panel of ministers had earlier brought down the land ceiling from 10,000 hectares following protests in several parts of the country, including Nandigram in Bengal. The panel had said that state governments could not acquire land for such zones.
Khullar said the ministry was likely to place before a group of ministers headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee the issue of land cap review.
With litigations against land acquisition increasing, SEZ developers are finding it difficult to acquire even 5,000 hectares and a number of projects, including Mukesh Ambani-promoted Navi Mumbai SEZ, are grappling with land problems. Several of them have even dropped their plans after failing to acquire land.
S.K. Jindal, chairman of investment and investors’ protection committee of Assocham, said, “Recent judgments on acquisition and requisition of agricultural land for non-agriculture purposes have made all stakeholders review legal, policy, environmental and social aspects governing the setting up and operation of such projects.”
Khullar asked the developers to look at other states instead of banking on Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh to set up tax free enclaves.
“Why are you developers still not going to the other 15-16 states? Why are you guys sticking to just six states. In some states, there have been a sea change in just five years (you should look at those areas),” he said.
These six states alone contribute about 92 per cent to the country’s total exports from SEZs.