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Thursday, Aug 02, 2007
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Government no agent for industry: Kumaraswamy

Special Correspondent

It has no role in forming SEZs, says Chief Minister

H.D. Kumaraswamy

BANGALORE: The Government is “not a broker” to procure land for industrialists for Special Economic Zones (SEZs) or for the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board or any other agency, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy asserted in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday.

Mr. Kumaraswamy took the wind out of the sails of the Congress-led Opposition by stating that the Government would look into the recommendations of the fact-finding committee on SEZs set up by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee and ensure that the interests of farmers were protected.

He ruled out the constitution of a legislature committee to go into the establishment of SEZs, since the Government did not have any role in the acquisition of land. In a hard-hitting reply to a lengthy debate on the establishment of SEZs, Mr. Kumaraswamy said he should not be compared with those who helped industrialists mortgage government land for funding their projects. He was blunt in saying that industrialists should directly buy land from farmers if “they really had the itch” or “yearning for the land”.

Refuting charges that his Government had acquired land for various projects around Bangalore, Mr. Kumaraswamy made it clear that farmers would not be dispossessed of their land. Land acquisition had not started because farmers had not given consent letters, he said.

Counterattack

Launching a counterattack against D.K. Shivakumar and other Congress leaders for naming his father, the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, in all issues, the Chief Minister said that people knew “who swallowed even the main sewage lines and tanks” around Bangalore.

About the safeguards provided to farmers, whose lands were being acquired for projects, Mr. Kumaraswamy said they should be provided proper rehabilitation, in the project area and employment for one person from the family.

Land could not be transferred to subsidiary companies. In case this rule was violated, the State Government would ask the Centre to cancel the SEZ allotted to the industry.

Mr. Kumaraswamy reminded the House how changes were made in the case of Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises after the original agreement was signed with the Government. Unlike the previous Congress Government headed by S.M. Krishna, the coalition Government headed by him had set stringent conditions for industrialists and they could not violate them.

The Chief Minister said the High-Level Clearance Committee had cleared only 250 hectares of land and given in-principle approval for 8,133 hectares.

The break-up of land cleared in different districts (in hectares) is: Bangalore Urban 412, Bangalore Rural 29.17, Mangalore 905, Hassan 671.57, Shimoga 169.60, Udupi 250.64 and Mysore 55.22. In-principle approval: Kolar 1,376, Bangalore urban 478.62, Bangalore Rural 5,946, Udupi 202, Bellary 121.06 and Mysore 10.12.

The SEZ issue raised a lot of heat in the Assembly with the Opposition members demanding that the Government drop all the planned SEZs in and around Bangalore.

They alleged that the policies of the Centre and State Government were only benefiting the rich.

Members, including Basavaraj Rayareddy, Vatal Nagaraj and Sriram Reddy, came down on the Government, saying thousands of hectares of farmland were being acquired at throwaway prices.

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