Congress criticises land acquisition for SEZs

Bangalore, Aug 8 (UNI) Karnataka Government's move to acquire land for Special Economic Zones (SEZ) was criticised by the Opposition Congress in the Legislative Council that was adjourned sine die late last night.

Opposition leader H K Patil, speaking on the issue alleged that the Government proposes to acquire about 1.19 lakh acres of fertile land for paving way to Multinationals to establish SEZs in the State and the Congress would oppose it.

However, Minister for Major Industries, Katta Subramanya Naidu clarified that the proposed acquisition was as per the guidelines of the SEZ Act passed by the Centre and the State's aim was to ensure overall development and to create more job opportunities.

At one stage Mr Patil demanded resignation of Mr Naidu alleging that the latter had lied to the High Court on the acquisition of land and had declined to refer the matter to the Lok Ayukta as directed by the High Court.

However, the Minister declined to comment stating that it would amount to subjudice as the Government had filed a review petition.

Stating that Government Property in huge quantity should not be handed over to private companies either by the State Governments or the Centre, Mr Patil said ''I had written to the Prime Minister appealing to make a law, banning sale of Government land valued more than Rs 50 crore to any individual.'' He said SEZs could be established on barren land, as more than eight lakh acres of such land was available in the State.

Alleging that in the name of SEZ, the Government was acquiring the land to make money by denotifying the land acquired without any reason.

Despite the Minister clarifying that the steps on SEZ was taken only after a careful study to pave for industrialisation and to solve unemployment problem, the entire opposition staged a walkout stating that they were not satisfied with the Government reply and demanding the matter be referred to Lokayukta.

Nada Gouda (JD-U) said he was not against the setting up of SEZs, but wanted to know why it should not be established in all the districts, instead of concentrating only in the State Capital and surrounding villages.

UNI