A parliamentary committee on SEZs, headed by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi, has demanded an ?immediate freeze? on the approval of new SEZs, until the law regarding this is amended to ?protect farmers and other stakeholders?. The committee, in its report, has also hit out at the UPA government for its ?undue haste? in clearing ?hundreds? of SEZs.
?No further SEZs should be notified till the SEZ Act and Rules have been amended to meet public concerns,? the report, submitted to Rajya Sabha chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat recently, said. ?There is an imperative need to understand the cause of farmers? agitation and grievance,? the report added.
?There should preferably be a ban on the use of irrigated double crop land for setting up SEZs and normally waste and barren land should be used,? Joshi told reporters, while briefing on the contents of the report. ?Heavens will not fall if there is a delay,? he retorted when asked what if amending the Act takes much time. ?Undue haste in approving SEZs and their proliferation has contributed to the resistance against the policy,? he observed.
?We demand a ceiling of 2,000 hectares on multi-product SEZs coming up on cultivable land. If cultivable land is indiscriminately given to SEZs, the country would plunge into a famine-like situation,? the former Union minister said. ?The directions should be incorporated in the Act,? Joshi added.
The committee, in its report, has also said that the members were not allowed to meet affected farmers when visited Jhajjar in Haryana, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jamnagar and Mumbai. ?The committee members are pained to note that at some places, the farmers were not allowed to meet MPs,? Joshi said. ?The government is bound to respond in the form of Action Taken Report in three months. We will not let the issue rest unless the government satisfies us,? he added. He also said there should not be any in-principle clearances.