In the meanwhile, CPI Secretary, Mr. D Raja who also spoke on the occasion opposed extension of tax benefits for SEZs and sought that the SEZ Act of 2005 which become operational in February 2006 should be amended.
According to Mr. Raja, the existing Act has several short-comings which need to be corrected and the corrections can be in the form of modifications of SEZs Act of 2005, as according to him the Act does not provide for a comprehensive land acquisition policy.
The Secretary CPI said that the maximum ceiling for acquisition of land for SEZ purpose should not be more than 1000 acres against the current ceiling of 5000 hectares.
Releasing the ASSOCHAM latest Study on SEZs, its President, Mr. Venugopal N. Dhoot said that land acquisition controversy for SEZs is not only uncalled for but also totally unjustified as less than 0.065% of India's total land area and 0.15% of agriculture land is being acquired for putting up of a good number of SEZs.
The total land area of India is measured at 2973190 sq. km., 51.6% of which is agricultural land i.e. 1620388 sq. km. against non-agricultural area of 1352802 sq. km. The extent of land for setting up SEZs in terms of total area works out to be 0.065% of total land area of India and 0.12% of its agriculture land, he said.
Mr. Dhoot further said that 1530 sq. km. of land is required to put up the approved number of SEZs and asked why the controversy on land acquisition was being created for SEZs, pointing out that less than 0.065% of total land area and only 0.12% of India's agriculture land was being acquired for SEZs.
Mr. Dhoot said that exports from central government SEZs in 2005-06 were Rs.19656.67 crore which went up by over 29% to touch Rs.25485.58 crore in 2006-07. Significant among the SEZs belonging to central government include Kandla, SEEPZ, Noida, MEPZ, Cochin, Falta and Visakhapatnam.
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India
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