Ministerial group to allow fresh SEZ notification in next 10 days

NEW DELHI: The freeze on Special Economic Zones (SEZ) may go in the next 10 days, with the empowered Group of Ministers expected to give its nod to proposals that show land has already been tied up.

"The eGoM will meet in the next 10 days and its first call will be to decide on the 82 cases where all formalities have been completed and are awaiting notification," official sources said.

The meeting of the eGoM follows a clearance from the Congress party that had met last week to decide the future of SEZs, which were facing uncertainty after violent protests over land acquisition in Nandigram in West Bengal and uproar in other states.

The party gave the clearance after pressure mounted from the Commerce Ministry and also from UPA partners, including DMK in Tamil Nadu and some state governments.

Of the 234 proposals with formal clearance, only 63 SEZs have been notified. Of the remaining, 82 have applied for notification after completing all formalities.

The relief is coming only for those SEZs which have land. The fate of those without land will be decided only after Centre comes out with a comprehensive relief and rehabilitation policy.

On Sunday, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharaya met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking early announcement of the policy.

The freeze came after the last meeting of eGoM in January could not decide on the key issues of land acquisition and rehabilitation of displaced. The situation had worried investors, many of whom had started re-examining their plans.