The state government declined to comment on news reports that the centre may denotify SEZs in Goa only if the state government pays compensation to the SEZ promoters and takes back the land leased to them.
The chief minister Digambar Kamat told TOI on Tuesday that he did not wish to comment on the news reports. “We have not received any official communication from the centre. The matter is in court. I do not wish to comment on the news reports,” Kamat said. The Industries secretary, V K Jha, also refused to comment.
The state government has consistently ruled out paying compensation to the SEZ developers. After his visit to Delhi and meeting with Union commerce minister Kamal Nath on June 14, Kamat had stated that he had explained the ground realities to Nath and that the central minister had understood Goa’s position vis-a-vis the need to denotify the three notified SEZs of Meditab, Peninsula and Rahejas.
That being the status of the 3 notified SEZs in Goa, the state government is now in the process of dealing with the other 4 SEZs - Panchabhoomi, Paradigm Logistics, Maxgrow and Inox Mercantile, which have been approved but have not been notified.
V K Jha visited Delhi early this month to attend the meeting of the Board of Approvals (BoA) of the Union Commerce ministry. The BoA was supposed to deliberate on Goa’s request to withdraw the approvals granted to the 4 SEZs which are yet to be notified. But the matter has now been deferred to a later date in the future, Jha said.
Courtesy: Times Of India
