Sheila8217;s Common Economic Zone idea gets the nod

NEW DELHI, MARCH 1: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit is rather pleased with herself and she has reasons to be. She pulled a coup by ma...

NEW DELHI, MARCH 1: Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit is rather pleased with herself and she has reasons to be. She pulled a coup by making the Union Government and chief ministers of four northern states endorse the common economic zone8217; CEZ proposal.

Union Home Minister L.K. Advani himself put forward the proposal at the northern zonal council meeting and coaxed the chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Jammu amp; Kashmir accept the concept.

Though the idea of a common taxation policy was first mooted by former state finance minister Jagdish Mukhi, the idea of a CEZ in terms of a resource-and-infrastructure-sharing is being developed by the present government and Dikshit8217;s unofficial economic advisor Jairam Ramesh.

Ramesh in fact, is preparing a comprehensive paper on the CEZ. 8220;The idea of a CEZ has been in circulation for some time. When we are talking in terms of lowering international tariff barriers, this is the least we can do,8221; he said.

Dikshit first sounded the idea at a meet of Delhi-based industrialists and businessmen at the CII last month. The idea, however, did not find much favour with the Lt-Governor Vijai Kapoor who made it a point to shoot down the concept.

The Dikshit Government has figured out in the last three months that Delhi will never be able to solve its problems on its own. 8220;Delhi does not have the resources. It has to depend on Himachal for power. Haryana for water. So why not grow together as an economic zone. And there8217;s the need to decongest Delhi,8221; said Ramesh.

Dikshit has in the last month has not only learnt the advantage of having a CEZ, she is also convinced that Delhi needs to be de-congested8217; and says so at every opportunity. 8220;The most popular tourist zone in northern India is the Delhi-Agra-Japiur belt. The states should come together to market it as a zone and develop the infrastructure accordingly,8221; said Ramesh.