Himachal SEZs still a distant dream

The setting up of special economic zones (SEZs) in Himachal Pradesh seems to remain a distant dream, as the industrial enclaves, proposed two years back, have not been started in the stipulated time.

The previous government had proposed to set up three SEZs in Kangra, Una and Solan districts.

While the rights for constructing multi-products SEZ in Kangra was accorded to DS Construction, the rights for developing multi-product SEZ at Gagret in Una district and an IT SEZ at Waknaghat in Solan district was awarded to Skill Infrastructure.

The Kangra SEZ was approved over an area of 100 hectares, while the airport-based Gagret SEZ was proposed over an area of around 3,230 hectares. The SEZ at Waknaghat is proposed to be developed on 800 hectares of land.

According to the Himachal industries department officials, even as all the three SEZs in the hill state were accorded one year of in-principle approval by the central government in 2006, the approval has lapsed and the companies have applied for extension.

While Skill infrastructure has sought extension for its proposed SEZ at Una, DS Construction will require to move a fresh application since it failed to apply for extension within the prescribed time.

According to industry department officials, the identified land by Skill Infrastructure at Waknaghat is overlapping with the land acquired by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) for setting up a township and also with the land proposed to be utilised for setting up an IT Park by the IT department.