KOLKATA: Around 200 hectares are lying unused in West Bengal under several SEZs and industrial parks as the MamataBanerjee government is opposed to the idea. The owners are not being able to sell them out because there are no takers. And this, after the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has announced the exit policy for special economic zones.
Recently, the board of approvals for the special economic zone rejected the appeal of Bengal Shriram Hitech City for further extension of its letter of approval. The company, which got approval in 2008 and a notification for
SEZ in 2009, is yet to do mutation for the land.
Bengal Shriram proposed to build IT and ITeS SEZ special economic zone at Uttarpara in Hooghly and the special status was notified in 2008. But the letter of approval got expired in 2011. Earlier this year, the company asked for an extension of the approval as it is yet to complete land conversion and has not received environment clearance for the project.
In another case, Bata India has also de-notified the land it had taken for an IT SEZ at Batanagar owing to low demand in the sector. Earlier last year, Bengal Shapoorji, Shyam Steel and Videocon Realty withdrew their proposals for SEZs and asked for a de-notification.
According to sources, many of these companies have not found the SEZ projects economically viable and gradually de-notified them. Bengal Shapoorji exited from SEZ as it found that there is not much demand for IT and ITeSSEZ in the state.
"The exit policy announced by the MCA is aimed at providing relief to such companies," said an official close to the development.
This apart, there are several projects where the board has given approvals for the last time. In case of Enfield Realtors, the board has given a year's extension to the firm to operationalize the SEZ.
Already, the company was given several extensions for its proposed sector specific SEZ for non-conventional energy. While delivering the extension for the last time, the board noted that the firm has made very little progress so far.
"We have not received any proposal for sale or transfer of ownership of the existing SEZ units despite exit policy is now provided by the ministry of corporate affairs," said an official at the Falta SEZ.
"Earlier, Rule 19 (2) allowed management change if the incoming company agreed to take over assets and liabilities of the company. We are yet to receive any detail regarding the exit policy recently announced by the MCA," the official said.
Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com