M'rashtra may pull out of Videocon SEZ land buy

Videocon Group's proposed multi-product special economic zone (SEZ) at Wagholi-Kesnand, 30 km from Pune, has run into serious trouble as the state government is in a mood to desist from acquiring land for the project, in keeping with the centre's diktat on the issue.

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, addressing a farmers' rally in Wagholi today, said he would prevail upon the state government to adhere to the centre's guideline - based on the recommendations of a special group of ministers set up in the backdrop of the Nandigram violence in West Bengal - that no agency of the state governments should be involved in the acquisition of land for SEZs.

Pawar said he would meet Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and minister for industries Ashok Chavan in Mumbai next week to discuss the issue.

Talking to Business Standard, Chavan confirmed that a meeting was planned in Mumbai post-Diwali. Sources in the state industries ministry, however, pointed to a rule that required the land acquisition process to be completed within a year of the SEZ getting an in-principle approval. This one-year period ended on October 24. "Unless Videocon applies for and gets an extension of this time limit of one year, the SEZ is as good as cancelled," sources said.

Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot could not be reached for his comments.

Ever since the SEZ was given in-principle approval last year, local farmers are agitated as they are unwilling to lose their land. Despite opposition by farmers, Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) had initiated steps towards acquisition such as land measurement at Wagholi Kesnand. There were instances of MIDC officials and Videocon Group representatives being attacked by the villagers at the time of measurement of land.

The farmers' opposition got sharper when the state minister for water resources Ajit Pawar appealed to the farmers not to sell land that was their only source of income.

Pawar's statement today comes in the wake of rounds of discussions within the local political circles, which suggested that the SEZ was in trouble. Officials in the MIDC's Pune regional office told Business Standard that a 'stay order' over land acquisition has been issued but the Pune office had still not received it.