Govt may ask Reliance to halve Maha Mumbai SEZ

THE government may ask Reliance Industries to scale down the size of its proposed multi-product Maha Mumbai SEZ from 10,000 hectares to 5,000 to avoid dislodging farmers and villagers unwilling to relocate. The decision is expected to be taken at the next meeting of the empowered group of ministers (eGoM) on SEZs. With rising protests from farmer groups, political parties and small businesses intensifying in the state, the government’s proposal could be seen as an attempt to prevent a repeat of the violence in West Bengal’s Nandigram. “If Reliance scales down its operations by half in Maha Mumbai, the sensitive areas could be excluded from the zone and peace restored,” the official said. The Board of Approval for SEZs, in an earlier meeting in August last year, had observed that land planned for building the Maha Mumbai SEZ was much more than required. With the situation hotting up, the eGoM headed by foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to ask Reliance to reduce the size of the SEZ, sources said. The date for the eGoM, which will also decide on the future course of the SEZ policy, has not yet been firmed up. It is being widely speculated that the meeting will take place only after the UP assembly elections are over. There seem to be two compelling reasons for the Centre to revisit the issue. The Board of Approvals had earlier washed its hands off the issue. The board categorically stated that it had indicated to the Maharashtra government about the need to review the size of RIL’s SEZ after it received a number of representations. “However, the Maharashtra government has approved acquisition of over 10,000 hectares and that land being a state subject, it is the prerogative of the state government concerned,” the board had noted in its meeting squarely blaming the Congress-led Maharashtra government. Politically, it was suicidal for Congress as it gave an impression that though the board was against RIL’s mega-SEZ, the Vilasrao Deshmukh government had facilitated the project. Ever since the state government began facing flak for its SEZfriendly image, the Congress had, on sensing public mood, dispatched a factfinding committee on Wednesday to meet the SEZ-affected people in Raigad district.

Opposition to co in some places

Another reason, according to highly placed sources, is the opposition to the company in some of the villages. Of the 45 villages from the three talukas of Pen, Uran and Panvel to be acquired, the company was finding it particularly difficult to deal with 20 from Uran taluka. These politically-active villages have been leading the campaign against the SEZ. It was here that the Congress faced humiliating defeat in the recent zilla parishad elections. The volatile political situation and violent protests had forced the company to think of redrawing its SEZ plan. “The company may delete 20 villages from Uran from its SEZ,” a high-level political functionary had recently told ET. Last week, when hundreds of agitators, mostly farmers, blocked roads in Raigad district in protest against the Maha Mumbai SEZ, chief minister Vilasrao Desmukh promised that the government would not interfere in the land acquisition process in Maharashtra. The protesters, however, are continuing to keep up the pressure on the state for withdrawing land acquisition notices issued to people in 45 villages falling in the Maha Mumbai SEZ. Apart from farmers, there are businesses located in the zone, many servicing the JNPT port, who have refused to be relocated. The protesters have planned another march on April 5 in Mumbai. Reliance has received an in-principle approval for the Maha Mumbai SEZ. A formal approval is given by the BoA only when all land-related controversies are put to rest and the developer is in possession of the entire land. Meanwhile, the Reliance group has come up with its own relief and rehabilitation package for those to be displaced by the Maha Mumbai SEZ.

Courtesy: EconomicTimes
For more detail on Retail India visit: http://www.retailindia.tv/