BANGALORE: The Government has decided against acquiring irrigated lands for establishing Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the State, Industries Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu has said.

Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Mr. Naidu said the Industries Department had directed the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) to acquire only dry lands for SEZs.

The Centre had recently cleared SEZs in Hubli-Dharwad, Gulbarga, Bidar, Belgaum and Mysore. Except the SEZ in Hubli-Dharwad, the others were sector specific, he said.

The State Government had been developing SEZs for pharmacy and biotechnology, textiles, food processing and agro-based industries in Hassan and SEZ for information technology in Mangalore.

Mr. Naidu said the department was holding an investors' meet in Belgaum on March 8.

On the same day, a job fair had been organised for unemployed graduates under the Suvarna Kayaka Shikshana Yojane.

A few private firms had agreed to participate in the fair. In Raichur, the job fair would be held on March 10, he said.

The industries in and around Bellary district were facing severe scarcity of water. The department had submitted a proposal to the Water Resources Department to supply 5 tmcft of water either from the Tungabhadra Dam or the Alamatti Dam, he said.

For inclusion of industry-related courses in the college syllabus, Mr. Naidu said the department had convened a meeting of vice-chancellors and education experts on March 5.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail