Mangalore SEZ land goes, POSCO land secure

Within hours of the seer of the Pejawar mutt, Udupi, Vishvesha Theertha Swamiji, threatening a fast against the acquisition of land for the multi-purpose industrial Mangalore Special Economic Zone (MSEZ) the state government on Tuesday evening denotified 1,997 acres earmarked for acquisition for the SEZ.

Earlier in the day, minister for large and medium industries, Murugesh Nirani, said, “I have discussed the issue with the chief minister. We have decided to denotify the land.” Nirani explained,

“The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board had issued preliminary notification for acquisition of 3,000 acres of land in 2004-05. This was meant for the development of the Mangalore SEZ’s first phase. Of the 3,000 acres, a final notification for the acquisition of 1,800 acres was issued after farmers agreed to give up their land. A preliminary notification had also been issued for the multi-purpose industrial SEZ, for the acquisition of 2,035 acres. Of this, 38 acres were government land. About 1,997 acres will now be denotified.” Later in the evening, the government issued the denotification order.

Vishvesha Theertha Swamiji had threatened to go on an indefinite fast from Wednesday if the state government did not denotify 2,035 acres of agricultural land earmarked to be acquired for the Mangalore SEZ.

MSEZ MD cannot comment, yet
Meanwhile, the managing director of the Mangalore Special Economic Zone (MSEZ), Rajiv Banga, said, “I am yet to get any communication from the government. There are procedures to denotify land. The MSEZ was a special-purpose vehicle, constituted by the Government of India. At present, the MSEZ has 1,600 acres. To become a multi-product SEZ, under the law, the SEZ should have not less than 2,500 acres. Presently, ONGC Mangalore Petrochemicals Limited (OMPL) and the Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) have already started coming up with their plants. Three more companies have signed memoranda.”