Tabling its report in Parliament, the panel said, “no further SEZs should be notified till the SEZ Act and rules have been amended to meet public concerns.”
According to the panel, “undue haste” in approving SEZ proposals and consequent proliferation of SEZs have contributed to the development of resistance against the SEZ policy.
It has called upon the Centre to take a fresh look at the policy as a whole and to re-frame it in such a manner that would make it people-friendly besides achieving the objective of export-led industrial growth.
“There is an imperative need to understand the cause of farmers’ agitation and grievance,” it said, demanding a ceiling of 2,000 hectares on multi-product SEZs coming up on cultivable land. If cultivable land is indiscriminately given to SEZs, the country would plunge into a famine-like situation, it warned.
The Committee suggested that land should be taken from farmers on lease so that they not only get lump-sum payment but periodic rentals for sustenance.
Moreover, state governments should set the benchmark price for land and farmers should be paid above that rate. Besides, the National Relief and Rehabilitation Act and Land Acquisition Act of 1894 should be replaced, it suggested.
Extend tax holiday
“If the land is on lease, it would revert to the lessor in case SEZ fails or is dissolved for any reason. At least one member of the landowner family should be given employment in SEZ venture,” it said. To prevent misuse of land for real estate, at least 50 per cent area should be used for processing activities. Noting that there was a rush among IT firms to set up SEZs, the committee recommended that these companies should be extended the tax holiday for ten more years beyond 2009.
No impact study
Meanwhile, the Centre, said, it has not conducted any systematic impact assessment of special economic zones on foodgrain production as only a little area has been diverted to SEZs so far.
“As little area has been consumed by SEZs so far as compared to total cultivable area of about 183 million hectare in the country, no systematic assessment about its impact on foodgrain production has been undertaken,” Minister of State for Agriculture Kanti Lal Bhuria informed Lok Sabha.