SEZ IN PUNE

Slander on Land Acquisition

The slander campaign against the Left Front government is mainly

based on land acquisition. An impression has been created as if the

government is forcibly acquiring huge tracts of farmland for

building SEZs and other private industries.

What is the reality?

Let us take the example of SEZs. Since the SEZ Act was notified in

2006, only 11 SEZs have been built in West Bengal till date, out of

which 9 are IT/ITES SEZs mostly built on 10 to 20 hectares of land,

with the largest one built on 48.5 hectares. Altogether, these 11

SEZs have required 210 hectares of land. Contrast this with the fact

that in Goa, 3 SEZs have been built on 250 hectares. Therefore,

the reality is that the area of land under SEZs in West

Bengal is even lower than that of a small state like Goa!

Moreover, during the same period, out of the 363 SEZs built across

the country, Andhra Pradesh has built 74 SEZs - the largest number

in a state - that have come up on 12300 hectares of land. The

table below shows how other states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu

etc. have built SEZs on large tracts of land.

Thus, while the baseless calumny against the Left Front

government regarding acquisition of large tracts of land has

continued unabated despite the West Bengal government not

allowing large SEZs to come up, states like Andhra Pradesh,

Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Haryana have

handed over thousands of acres of land to big corporates and real

estate developers for SEZs. Those who have been crying

themselves hoarse about supposed land acquisition for SEZs in

West Bengal have not cared to protest against the proliferation of

SEZs in these states.