Date:14/09/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/09/14/stories/2006091408831200.htm

National

CPI (M) seeks changes in SEZ Act

Special Correspondent

`Land acquired from ryots sans compensation'

KOLKATA: The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has sought changes in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Act, its rules and procedures, and has decided that the party leadership "will seek the cooperation of other political parties and take up the matter with the Centre."

The Polit Bureau discussed the setting up of SEZs in the country for which land was being acquired from farmers "on a large scale without due compensation or provision of means of livelihood" at its two-day meeting which ended here on Wednesday.

Later, CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat said: "There is wholesale tax exemption being given which is going to have an adverse effect on government revenues. There are also other features of the SEZ Act, including the setting up of international financial centres which detract from the sovereignty of the country."

Mr. Karat said the Group of Ministers' suggestion that the Centre raise the percentage of land earmarked in the multi-product SEZs for industries from 25 per cent to 35 per cent [of the total SEZ area] with the remaining being reserved for real estate purposes was not good enough. "We maintain that 50 per cent of the land be reserved for industrial purposes as is being planned in the case of the two SEZs in West Bengal," he said.

Rising prices

The Polit Bureau also expressed "serious concern at the continuing price rise of essential commodities, especially food items, and urged the Centre to take immediate steps in this regard," Mr. Karat said. "In this connection, futures trading in foodgrains and other essential commodities is leading to speculation and fuelling price rise" he said.

"The failure to procure adequate quantities of wheat is affecting the public distribution system. The decision of the government to allow import of wheat by private traders with zero duty will not provide wheat for the public distribution system which needs to be urgently strengthened. The lowering of phyto-sanitary standards for wheat imports is also an unwise move," he said.