Already under fire from all quarters over special economic zones, an important parliamentary committee has firmed up its strong opposition over acquisition of farm land.
Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Murli Manohar Joshi is heading the 31-member parliamentary committee. There are nine other members from the Rajya Sabha and 21 from Lok Sabha, representing all major political parties.
India's great rush for SEZs
The committee, which is expected to submit its final report to Parliament in May, is also likely to seek cancellation of all approvals given to developers who avail of tax exemptions and simply create infrastructure which is then leased out to other companies.The committee, which visited SEZs, will also suggest that such economic zones should be ideally located near the coastal areas, similar to zones in China, so that only marsh or coastal land is used rather than farm land.
The committee, on its visits to Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana, found that developers of some of the zones had asked the state government to begin land acquisition while simultaneously acquiring land on their own.
However, the commerce ministry had agreed to a suggestion of the committee to invite a representative of the agriculture ministry to the meetings of the board of approval, which is the inter-ministerial agency for approving SEZs.
The committee also suggested since there are concerns that diversion of farm land for the zones could, in the long run, affect the food situation in the country, the agriculture ministry should be involved in the approval process.
Another issue that's expected to figure prominently in the report involves approvals granted to real estate and infrastructure developers.
Meanwhile, the commerce ministry, the nodal ministry dealing with the SEZ policy, will release a 'progress report' every two months on the 63 zones already notified.
The committee's report will not be binding on the government, but the Centre will have to submit an action-taken report on the recommendations.
