The long-pending legislation on SEZs has been further delayed with the Union Cabinet on Thursday deciding to refer it to a Group of Ministers (GoM). “The bill was discussed and referred to a Group of Ministers,” Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said. The Bill will be placed before the Budget session, he said.But Commerce ministry officials said the decision to refer the bill to GoM was to sort out the problem areas pointed out by the law and home ministries. Issues like applicability of the IPC to crimes committed in SEZs, proposed to be given a deemed foreign territory status, have to be examined, they said.The SEZ legislation is aimed at boosting exports and FDI to pursue export-led growth as in China. It attempts to further simplify procedures for attracting FDI, which will not require FIPB approval.Meanwhile, the government approved two open cast coal mining projects of Mahanadi Coalfields in Orissa as part of its efforts to meet the fuel shortage. Bhubaneswari Opencast Coal Mining Project would need a captial investment of Rs 336.68 crore and incur completion cost of Rs 418.81 crore, FM P. Chidambaram said after a Cabinet CCEA meeting. Kaniha Open Cast Project will cost Rs 106.88 crore on completion and require Rs 96.18 crore of capital investment, he said.The Centre also decided to raise the capital subsidy ceiling for the powerloom sector from Rs 60 lakh to Rs 1 crore under the technology upgradation fund scheme (TUFS) and to increase the rate of subsidy capital investment by small jute and textiles units from 12 per cent to 15 per cent.The government okayed the continuation of the revamped central sector scheme for cooperative education and training during the Tenth Five year plan with an outlay of Rs 231 crore.
