Andhra SEZ Bill yet to see light of the day

Labour ministry blamed for delay.

Though Andhra Pradesh stands among the few top states that have got the largest share of SEZ clearances in the country, it is yet to get the President's assent for the SEZ Bill, which has been lying with the Centre for the past one year.

It may be recalled that the SEZ Bill, prepared on the lines of the Gujarat government's enactment, was duly passed by the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly in May 2005.

The government had proposed certain relaxations with regard to the existing labour laws for units that come up in SEZs besides providing single window clearance by vesting the powers of various departments with the development commissioner of each SEZ and a set of incentives in addition to those announced in the Centre's policy.

The Bill took a tortuous journey to move from one department to the other in Delhi for clearance before ending up in the Union labour ministry, headed by K Chandrasekhara Rao till recently, where it is gathering dust for the past several months.

The ministry is sitting on the bill without giving its opinion for unknown reasons, according to state government officials.

"The bill was cleared by all the departments concerned, except the Union labour ministry, which has neither sought any clarifications with regard to the provisions of the bill nor has it given any indication as to when it is going to be cleared," the official in the know told Business Standard.

According to the official, the Bill is simply awaiting the ministry's nod to be sent to the President with no further halts.

Meanwhile, the state government today appointed a committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary to provide single window clearances required at the state-level for the establishment of special economic zones.