| SEZ land in Noida not an issue: ADAG |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi August 19, 2007 |
| The Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) is expected to write a letter to the Uttar Pradesh government and the Centre stating that the board of approval (BoA) guidelines on land acquisition are not applicable to the 2,500 acres it needs for its multi product SEZ in Noida. The reasoning is that unlike in the case of other special export zones (SEZ), the land in Noida is owned by the New Okhla Industrial Authority (NOIDA) and can be leased only to users like ADAG. ADAG has signed a 70-year lease agreement with NOIDA for 2,500 acres. They have already been given 500 acres. The remaining 2,000 acres were notified by the authority in 2004, as part of land to be acquired under the masterplan. Any land owned by farmers in the notified area cannot be sold to anyone except NOIDA. NOIDA was set up by an act of the Uttar Pradesh government. So the BoA guideline which says states can assist in the acquisition of land for such projects, provided that there was no objection from farmers, did not hold good in this case, ADAG will tell the state government. The project suffered a setback when the state cabinet on Saturday recommended to the Centre that the SEZ was not in line with the commerce ministry |
