NEW DELHI: The Union Government on Wednesday denied that any farmer had been displaced owing to land acquisition for the 181 special economic zones cleared so far by the Board of Approval for SEZs.

According to the new Commerce Secretary G. K. Pillai, much of the debate around SEZs does not consider the fact that only one SEZ in Mumbai in Maharashtra had been cleared for an area as large as 10,000 hectares. The other SEZs in Gurgaon and Dadri being cited had earlier been given approval "in principle'' before the SEZ Act came into force, but had not been formally cleared by the Board, he said.

Mr. Pillai told newspersons here on Wednesday that "not a single farmer has been displaced owing to the 181 SEZs which have been cleared till now.'' In this context, he had written to the Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to seek a clarification on the issue of treating SEZ projects on a par with real estate developers. He pointed out in the letter that the SEZ Act clearly states that real estate activity cannot be carried out in these zones. Therefore, he urged the RBI to clarify as to why it was treating the SEZs on a par with real estate developers for purposes of lending rates.

Regarding objections raised by the Left parties, he said detailed discussions were held with them by Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, during which the entire issue was explained in depth. He said the Left parties' representatives suggested that a ceiling on the size of the SEZs could be included instead of only specifying a minimum size of 1,000 hectares (for multi-product SEZs). This proposal, he said, was being considered.

Mr. Pillai pointed out that land being a State subject, the Board of Approval had advised State industrial development corporations to give land in SEZs on a lease rather than to sell it. Some states, he said, like Gujarat have decided to give land only on lease basis rather than selling it. In addition, States had been told to ensure that double cropped land should not amount to over 10 per cent of the land being acquired.

Asked about the debate over revenue loss owing to SEZs, he noted that all tax concessions were up to 2009 along with those given to EoUs and EPZs. Besides, these would generate a huge amount of economic activity and provide employment to thousands of people. It was envisaged that housing should be provided within the SEZs for employees as otherwise it could lead to congestion in neighbouring cities as has happened in Bangalore.

Mr. Pillai also disclosed that clearance of perishable goods at the customs would soon be speeded up as the government was finalising legislation to upgrade the process to international standards.

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