Centre puts spanner on two Reliance SEZ proposals

New Delhi, Oct 4 (UNI) The Centre has put a spanner on two ambitious SEZ proposals of Reliance Industries in Maha Mumbai and Jhajjar, by questioning the excess allotment of land in Maharashtra and asserting that the double-crop criterion would be strictly followed for the Haryana zone.

''We have asked the state Government to explain why so much land has been given for the Maha Mumbai SEZ '', Commerce Secretary G K Pillai said in his first press conference.

At the same time, Mr Pillai added that the double-crop restrictive rule would be strictly applied as and when the RIL proposal for setting up a SEZ in Haryana comes up before the Board of Approals. ''Till now, the RIL Haryana SEZ proposal has not come to the BOA'', Mr Pillai said.

As per the new criteria, if more than 10 per cent of land acquired is a double-crop area, the SEZ would not be cleared.''Yes , they will face problems'', the Commerce Secretary said when asked whether the RIL proposal for the 10,000-hectare Haryana SEZ could face road-blocks on this count.

As for the proposal of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) to set up the Dadri power plant under the SEZ category, Mr Pillai said though the land is fertile in that area, the company has not come back for the final approval.'' For Dadri, they have only in-principle approval. They have not come back after that'', he said.

Mr Pillai said he and Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath have written separate letters to RBI Governor Y V Reddy asking how the SEZ activity could be treated as real estate when the SEZ Act did not specify such a thing.

He also disagreed with the remarks made by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia who threw his weight behind the RBI in the ongoing controversy over higher banking provisions for the SEZ activities.

The Commerce Secretary said the Ministry has also asked various State Industrial Development Corporations to allot land only on the lease basis and not on outright sale basis.

He said the entire controversy has been blown out of proportion.

''If 75,000 acre, that too barren land is acquired, I do not think it will displace farmers, as is being made out. It is only a drop in the ocean'', he said.

It is only in three cases of the Ambani brothers' - Maha Mumbai, Jhajjar (RIL) and Dadri (ADAG) that the question of fertile land is concerned. But in two of the three cases, the proposals have not reached a stage where the Centre can intervene. It is between the state Governments and the promoters, Mr Pillai said.

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