It was proposed as one of the biggest industrial projects in north India. But problems over buying land for its special economic zone (SEZ), spread across Haryana’s Jhajjar and Gurgaon districts, has made Reliance Haryana SEZ Ltd go back to the drawing board.
The zone, which at first was proposed to be spread over 25,000 acres (10,000 hectares), got its first setback in April 2007, when the area of these tax-free industrial enclaves was capped at 12,300 acres (5,000 hectares) and state governments were barred from acquiring land for these zones.
Then, the Jhajjar farmers refused to sell, primarily because they wanted more money for their plots. While the company is offering Rs 22 lakh per acre and another Rs 30,000 per acre as an annual payment for more than 30 years, the farmers want more than Rs 1 crore an acre.
Their argument: The rate in adjacent Gurgaon is more than Rs 2 crore an acre; and moreover, prices of land near SEZs in areas like Sultanpur have shot up to nearly Rs 1 crore an acre. Surely, the land owners of Jhajjar do not want to be left behind.
This has put the developer in a dilemma. If it pays more, those who have already sold their land will want to be compensated accordingly. Then there are farmers who do not want to give up living off their land as they do not have any other skill.
The company has been able to buy only around 10,000 acres to date. The project, as a result, has not been able to fulfil the contiguity rule, which mandates that an SEZ has to be a one whole unit. Hope, however, lies in the Relief and Rehabilitation Policy as well as the Land Acquisition Amendment Bill, both of which are yet to be cleared by Parliament.
These will allow the Haryana government to acquire land to help the company fulfil the contiguity criteria. There is also hope that the area cap will be relaxed.
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The company, refusing to give up, has changed its plan and is now likely to build two adjacent SEZs of 12,300 acres each in different phases. It has already gone ahead and started work in a phased manner. A multi-services SEZ, spread across 1,086 acres (439 hectares) in Mohammadpur, Jharsa, Narsighpur, Garouli Khurd and Harsau villages in the Gurgaon district, has been notified by the commerce ministry.
This means the area has been recognised as a tax-free industrial enclave. Work in scheduled to be completed by 2009, when units will be able to move in.
Pradeep Gooptu from Kolkata, Dillip Satapathy and Bishnu Dash from Bhubaneshwar, Makarand Gadgil from Mumbai, Rituparna Bhuyan from New Delhi