Haryana to sign JV with Reliance on June 19

New Delhi, June 12: Setting at rest the uncertainty about its proposed joint venture with Reliance, the Haryana government today announced that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will sign the Rs 30,000 crore multiproduct Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project with RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani at Chandigarh on June 19.

The signing of the project was postponed for one week as Mr Mukesh Ambani was abroad and could not make it to Chandigarh for today's scheduled formal inking, official sources close to Mr Hooda told UNI here today.

''There is absolutely no controversy about the mega project and no differences among the ruling state Congress leaders regarding utility and benefits of the mega project for the state,'' the sources said.

There was no scope for reviewing the joint venture agreement as it was final and ready for formal ceremony, they added.

Mr Hooda was not 'summoned' by the Congress President Sonia Gandhi as reported in a section of media for any explanation about the project, he said adding that rather the party MP from the state Kuldip Bisnoi, son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, had been issued show cause notice for publically raising doubt about the usefulness of the mega project.

Mr Hooda was here for the past four days and did not even go to 10, Janpath even for courtesy call, the sources claimed.

Under the mega project, Reliance plans to develop SEZ at 25,000 acres near Gurgaon in Jhajjar district with an exlusive airport, railway and captive power generation facilities on the lines of SEZ in China and Dubai.

The project also expects third party investment to the tune Rs one lakh crore with an employment potential for 2,00,000 hands.

Earlier, INLD cheif Om Prakash Chautala had critised the project and sought its cancellation on the plea that it had been replete with irregularities, favouring the giant corporate for which farmers' land worth Rs 8,500 crore had been acquired by the government.

On the other hand, INLD leader and former state finance minister Sampat Singh said the farmers, who are set to lose their 1,715 acres of land, received only Rs 350 crore.

UNI