No moratorium on SEZs: Kamal Nath

New Delhi, Jan 19: Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nathtoday denied there was any moratorium on approvals for new SpecialEconomic Zones (SEZs), saying that the Government was granting"in-principle approval where land is already there".

Speaking on the sidelines of the Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) and Columbia Business School conference on "Prospects for theWorld Economy after the Recent U S Election", the Minister toldnewspersons here that a review process was on whether the land beingacquired was government or private land.

"Soon after we make the review, a meeting will be held," he told reporters.

According to news reports, the Union Government had decided to puton hold the controversy-ridden SEZ proposals which had evoked strongprotests from farmers in West Bengal and Punjab among others over theacquisition of their farmlands.

This followed the move to postpone the Board of Approvals (BoA), the single-window clearing agency for SEZs.

The Board is expected to resume meetings after the empowered groupof ministers (EGoM) headed by Mr Pranab Mukherjee on SEZs on January 22.

So far, the Government has given clearance to 237 SEZ proposals.

The meeting of the SEZ approval committee board, which was due to be held today, was postponed without assigning any reason.

The Prime Minister has assured that within three months theGovernment will come out with a policy regarding compensation forfarmers through either a lumpsum payment or provision for regularincome over a period.

UNI>