The Hindu : Karnataka News : Govt. urged to stall bid to shift SEZ

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 24, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Govt. urged to stall bid to shift SEZ

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, NOV. 23. The President of the State unit of the Janata Dal (United), B. Somashekar, today charged that attempts were being made by the Union Minister for Petroleum, Mani Shankar Aiyar, to get the proposed Special Economic Zone (SEZ) shifted from Mangalore, to Cuddalore in Tamil Nadu. He said the State Government should immediately protest and prevent such an action, which would be detrimental to the interests of the State.

Pact with ONGC

He told presspersons here today that the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) had entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the State Government to set up two gas-based power plants at Bidadi and another in Mangalore, apart from laying a gas pipeline from Mangalore to Bangalore to serve a host of industries. The Rs. 25,000-crore MoU was signed by the Government nearly two months ago.

`Unethical'

Mr. Somashekar charged that Mr. Aiyar had raised objections to the ONGC going ahead with the project with the aim of shifting the SEZ to Cuddalore. "It is unethical on the part of the Union Minister to serve one State at the cost of another. The Karnataka Government should take up the matter seriously with the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh," he said.

He said it was also a test case for the Janata Dal (Secular) to exhibit that it cared for the people and the interests of the State. The Industries Minister, P.G.R. Sindhia, and the Energy Minister, H.D. Revanna, were from the JD(S) and it was, therefore, the responsibility of the JD(S) to ensure that the MoU was implemented.

Mr. Somashekar said if the coalition Government failed to act then the JD(U) would take up the matter and would launch an agitation. It would also file a public interest litigation in the Karnataka High Court since the matter concerned the people and the State. Giant projects could not be called off or shifted merely for political considerations, he said.

`Reduce sales tax'

He urged the State Government to immediately reduce the sales tax on petroleum products and said the sales tax here was one of the highest in the country. The Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, had suggested to the States to reduce sales tax on petroleum products, he pointed out.

Ashraya panels

He criticised the Government for delaying the constitution of the Ashraya committees and the committees to oversee the regularisation of unauthorised constructions and encroachments on government land. While over 50,000 houses could have been distributed to the poor in a six-month period, the Government had not taken any step on the matter so far.

Nearly 11 lakh applications for regularisation of land were pending, he added.

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