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Wednesday, Jan 02, 2008
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BJP for follow-up action on SEZs

Special Correspondent

“Victory of the people’s persistent struggle”
Parrikar alleges scandal

PANAJI: While expressing satisfaction over the government’s decision to scrap the controversial special economic zone (SEZ) projects, the main Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday sought prompt action from the government to revert its huge land in the possession of the private promoters of the said projects.

The Leader of the Opposition and former Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar, described the decision as the “victory of the people’s persistent struggle.” At the same time, he called on the people to ensure that Chief Minister Digambar Kamat initiates concrete steps to get the three notified SEZs de-notified from the Central Board of SEZ Clearances and does not just “toss the ball in the Centre’s court.”

Reiterating his allegations that there were scandals right from recommending the projects for approval to allotment to them of prime land acquired by the government, the BJP leader sought a detailed probe to expose those responsible for it.

Mr. Parrikar also demanded that the government should put for public scrutiny the White Paper submitted by the Chief Secretary recently which has ostensibly done an appraisal of the SEZ projects.

“I want the people to know the circumstances in which so many SEZs were sought to be pushed, whether proper appraisal of projects was done prior to that and whether proper decision-making process was followed,” Mr. Parrikar said.

The BJP also demanded that the government should henceforth make the entire process of allotting or leasing of land through state agencies for industrial purposes completely transparent by introducing a system of public auction.

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