UP seeks Centre’s nod for 10 SEZs

The Uttar Pradesh government’s Empowered Committee on Special Economic Zones...

The Uttar Pradesh government’s Empowered Committee on Special Economic Zones (SEZs), headed by chief secretary P K Mishra, has forwarded 10 proposals for SEZs to the Centre for approval. In a meeting on December 4, the committee decided to forward eight proposals for in-principle approval to the Board of Approvals.

Of these, six are Information Technology/ IT enabled Services (IteS) sector specific, including proposals by Wipro, Uppal Housing and Gallant Infrastructure at Greater Noida and Sarva Mangal Realtech, Jubilant Infracon at Noida. Two other proposals are for Lucknow, one by Ansal Properties & Infrastructure and the other by a biotech firm.

These two proposals, along with another proposal by Jhujhunwala Vanaspati & Hari Fertilizers — for setting up of a multi-services SEZ with a 25 megawatt captive power plant at Chandauli —have also been forwarded for approval. Over the past few months, ample thought was given to the issue of land and the displacement of locals, said Atul Kumar Gupta, infrastructure and industrial development commissioner. The Government has, accordingly, revised the state SEZ policy, keeping in mind the amendments of the Government of India.

In June, to curb the compulsory land acquisition by states for SEZs, the Centre had fixed 5,000 hectares as the upper limit of area on which a SEZ could be established. Executive director Udyog Bandhu and secretary (industrial development) Archana Agrawal, said the state government was keen to promote SEZs in the state. Hence, after reviewing the SEZ policy in August, the pending and fresh proposals are being forwarded to the Centre.