The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Drop all planned SEZs, says Opposition

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Thursday, Aug 02, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Drop all planned SEZs, says Opposition

Special Correspondent

‘Policies of the governments are only benefiting the rich’

SEZ policy will convert farmers into beggars: Basavaraj Rayareddy
‘Acquire barren land for SEZs and shift satellite towns to backward taluks’

BANGALORE: In view of the widespread discontent that the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) have generated among farmers in the State, Opposition members on Wednesday urged the Government to drop all the planned SEZs in and around Bangalore.

The blatant way in which the Union and State governments followed the SEZ policies generally benefited the rich.

In an agrarian economy, it was unfortunate that the Union and the State governments had been forcibly acquiring thousands of hectares of farm land and giving them to powerful industrial houses and real estate dealers at throw-away prices, alleged Basavaraj Rayaraddy, V. Somanna, K. Srinivas Gowda, Dinesh Gundu Rao (all Congress), G.V. Sriram Reddy (CPI-M), Vatal Nagaraj (Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha) and Jayaprakash Hegde (Independent) in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

Speaking on an adjournment motion on the issue, Mr. Rayaraddy said the SEZ policy would “convert farmers into beggars,” and demanded that the Government treat the farm sector on a par with the industry. The Government should drop the proposed five satellite towns around Bangalore. Keeping in view the steadily declining availability of fertile land, he urged the Government to acquire barren land for SEZs and shift satellite towns to backward taluks.

Mr. Nagaraj said the recent twists and turns in the SEZ policies had exposed the strong influence that the industrial houses and the real estate dealers continued to exercise over the Government’s policies.

Real estate firms such as Prestige, DLF, Sobha Developers, Brigade Group and Skyline acquired farm lands in and around Bangalore and constructed multi-storeyed residential complexes, he alleged.

Mr. Sriram Reddy said in many places, small agriculturists were thrown out of their lands and, along with them, those who depend on agriculture, such as artisans and rural workers have also lost their livelihood. The Union and State governments had lost thousands crores of rupees of revenue on account of the SEZs so far finalised. The loss would be more, as more and more SEZs were approved.

The labour laws applicable to the rest of the country had been relaxed for the SEZs. The employment opportunities that the SEZs would create were limited, compared to the number of poor farmers uprooted, he said.

Unfortunately, the SEZ Act, 2005, of the Centre had not imposed any terms and conditions on acquisition of land. The State Government should stop acquisition of land till the Centre formulated an unambiguous policy, he said.

The former Minister P.G. R. Sindhia suggested to the Government to temporarily abandon the SEZ policy.

Mr. Hegde drew the attention of the Government towards public sector industries and said efforts should be made to revive sick units.

Mr. Somanna and Mr. Gundu Rao said the city would face severe water crisis if the Government continued to acquire lands for townships and SEZs.

The units in an SEZ would not only drain surface and groundwater resources at the expense of the local communities, but also pollute the local water bodies by releasing effluents, they said.

Mr. Srinivas Gowda suggested to the Government to acquire lands for agricultural economic zones which would revive the hitherto stagnant farm sector.

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