Digambar to meet Kamal
Nath over SEZ
Agencies, New Delhi
3 January 2008
Goa Chief Minister Digamber Kamat is expected to meet Union
Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath here today on the
issue of Goa Government’s decision to scrap all Special
Economic Zones (SEZs) in the State.
Union Commerce Secretary Gopal Pillai, on Wednesday, said
that the State Governments have no power to scrap notified
SEZs.
The Goa Government had decided to scrap all 15 SEZs in the
State on December 31, 2007 following widespread political
protests, including by the Congress party workers.
This was after seven SEZs had been approved by the Centre’s
Board of Approval, which is headed by Pillai.
Of the seven approved SEZs, three had been notified. These
three include Cipla’s Meditab Specialities, Peninsula
Pharma Research Centre and K Raheja Corporation.
Kamat is expected to ask Kamal Nath to put on hold the remaining
SEZs that have been approved but not notified.
The State Government faced a tough time last week with anti-SEZ
protestors intensifying their movement. There have been protests
against SEZs in several states, including West Bengal, Maharashtra
and Haryana, but Goa is the first Congress-ruled state to
have gone back on the SEZ policy.
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