Mayawati govt to review SEZs

After deciding to have a relook at the Anil Ambani group-promoted SEZ in Noida, the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh has decided to review state government approvals to all proposals pending before the Centre.

"(State) officials came to us wanting to withdraw approvals for all SEZ proposals that were sent to Centre by the previous Mulayam Singh government," a senior official said here.

"We told them since a new government has taken over officials can take their own time and revert back to us after convincing themselves about these proposals," the official said.

Five of the seven proposals listed for today's meeting of Board of Approval (BoA) had to be deferred on insistence from the state government. The two proposals which were approved belonged to Uttar Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation, which wants to set up textile and leather SEZs in Kanpur.

According to indications, besides Ambani's SEZ, the fate of at least nine others appear uncertain as they have all come under the scanner of the new government in the state.

The proposals listed for today's BoA meeting which were not cleared are of Shipra Estate Ltd, that had planned a 2,024 hectare multi-product SEZ in Aligarh, Dolphin Developers that involved 100 hectares of land near Kanpur and Purvnanchal SEZ in Varanasi.

In the coming BoA meetings, four proposals from DLF, Falcon Calltech, Perfect and Century to set up an IT SEZ in Noida are listed.

Soon after assuming office, Mayawati had said: "We will have a relook at all the decisions of the previous government and action will be taken if they are found violating the rules or are against peoples interest."

In the coming BoA meetings, four proposals from DLF, Falcon Calltech, Perfect and Century to set up an IT SEZ in Noida are listed.