4 SEZs in north K'taka get Centre's approval

The Centre has approved in-principle Karnataka's proposal to set up four special economic zones (SEZs) for various industries in the North Karnataka region.

The SEZ projects include pharmacy in Bidar, food processing in Raichur, steel in Koppal and foundry in Belgaum districts.

"The state government has decided to hand over the SEZs at Bidar and Raichur to private entrepreneurs for development. All the four SEZs are located in North Karnataka specifically to aid the development in that region, which is economically backward," Karnataka's industries minister Katta Subrahmanya Naidu told reporters here.

The approval comes a week after the Centre cleared another five SEZs proposed by Infosys Technologies Limited on 30.99 hectares at Mysore, Sele Engineering Locomotive Ltd on 10 hectares at Whitefield, HCL Technologies Limited on 11.5 hectares at Jigani (Bangalore), Quest Machining Manufacturers Private Ltd on 125.4 hectares at Belgaum and Suzlon Infrastructure Ltd on 202 hectares at Padubidri, Dakshina Kannada district.

Naidu pointed out that there were certain "flaws" in the manner the Centre was sanctioning the SEZs. "The Centre is contemplating restricting SEZs in each state to 150. So far, Karnataka has received permission to set up 133 SEZs. Another 31 applications for SEZs are pending. We cannot process them as the total number will cross 150. When compared with other states, our land use is less, as a majority of the SEZs is IT clusters. We will urge the Centre to sanction SEZs area-wise and not sector-wise," he said.

On the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector, Naidu said the government had received 72 applications seeking permission to start SMEs.

"These industries will be spread over 25,000 acres in Bangalore Rural, Tumkur, Kolar, Mysore, Mangalore and Hubli-Dharwad districts. Already 10,000 acres have been identified for this purpose," the minister stated.