RIL SEZ to lay off workers

Reliance Haryana SEZ, the company developing a 5,000-hectare special economic zone in Gurgaon and Jhajjar districts of Haryana has retrenched some employees.

"We have discontinued or replaced certain contractual staff, total number not exceeding double digits, in the North India operations involved in activities under the discretionary cost head," a Reliance Industries spokesperson said in reply to an e-mailed query sent by Business Standard.

According to some employees, who claimed to have been retrenched, the number of laid-off people is much higher. However, the company denies this.

Reliance Haryana SEZ is a joint venture between Reliance Ventures and the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation.

The lay-offs have come in the midst of similar measures being taken by other firms, mainly in the financial sector, which have been hit hard by the liquidity crunch and market meltdown.

Sources close to the development indicated that plans to develop the zone has been put on the back-burner temporarily.

According to an RIL spokesperson, the development work of the SEZ is yet to begin and the company is still procuring land.

The SEZ, which is a tax-free industrial enclave, was to be originally built in more than 10,000 hectares.

But in April 2007, following protests against land acquisition for certain zones in Maharashtra and West Bengal, an empowered group of ministers had put a maximum limit on the size of the zones, which were not to exceed 5,000 hectares.

Subsequently, the group decided to allow conditional relaxation to zones on a case-by-case basis. The RIL zone has been facing problems in completing land procurement process, as land owners in the area have been demanding more compensation.