Punjab to bring in SEZ Act

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Chandigarh, Sep 3: Keeping in mind the various protests held by farmers over land acquisitions for developing special economic zones (SEZ) in the state and other parts of the country, Punjab government is all set to introduce SEZ Act now. According to well-placed sources in the industry department of Punjab, the government will put a ceiling of 5,000 hectares on an SEZ. There was no cap earlier. Besides state government will not acquire land for an SEZ on behalf of private developers.

Speaking with FE, a senior official in the industry department said, “For developing IT SEZ there is an average limit acquiring land is of 10 hectares, for a specific sector SEZ the limit is fixed at 100 hectares while for a multi-product SEZ the limit is fixed at 1,000 hectares. If the Act comes into existence then the upper limit will be fixed at 5,000 hectares. Though the act was proposed in July 2007 but now we are pushing it for implementation to boost the development of SEZ projects which are moving on a slow pace.

A meeting of the empowered committee on SEZ headed by the chief secretary and all concerned officials is scheduled for September 16. After getting the approval from the state government, the proposal will be sent to the Central government, sources revealed.

It may be mentioned here that Punjab government had faced serious agitations from farmers when the government tried to acquire land acquisition for developing special economic zone (SEZ) in Amritsar for DLF. Due to the protests the project has got delayed and now the state government has asked DLF to choose a new location in Amritsar.

Giving more details on the proposed Act, the official said, “To speed up progress of SEZ projects, the government will introduce a single window system so that developers get all necessary clearances from one single point. There is plan to delegate powers to a development commissioner for SEZ which gets appointed by the Central government. The commissioner will head the single window committee and will ensure all the approvals as soon as possible in a prescribed time. The procedure will be simplified so that it saves time”.