Azad says no to SEZs

Swimming against the tide, Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has refused to create special economic zones (SEZs) in the state.

This decision has been taken by Azad, apparently following pressure from the coalition partners, Mufti's People Democratic Party and the Hurriyat-supported People's Democratic Front (PDF), which are said to be dead against the move.

Talking to Business Standard on the occasion of the Darbar move to the winter capital of Jammu here today, Azad said: "The J&K government is facing a lot of problems. We do not want to aggravate them by inviting opposition from the public. We faced a lot of opposition from Kashmiri people on our decision to have investment from outside and even from abroad in the tourism sector at Gulmarg and Pahalgam. Our government has no plans to create SEZs in the state and moreover, J&K will not encourage investment that is not beneficial for its own people but only for big industrialists."

Azad said employment generation was not much and most of the labourers/workers were being preferred from outside the state because that was cheap.

"We have given sops on income tax, sales tax, power, raw material, and transportation and even provided land at very cheap rates. By providing them special industrial packages, these big houses are getting extensive benefits and earning huge profits.

Many of them are investing here just to make an easy buck and performing only a packaging job," Azad added.

Earlier, there was a proposal to have such zones and some areas were also suggested for this but this decision has been shelved now.

Azad further pointed out a review of the industrial sector in J&K was going on. It was half way through now and some major decisions are likely to be taken regarding sick units, regarding the fate of some PSUs and investments from outside.

Referring to massive encroachment on government land, Azad, who holds the revenue portfolio, said a fresh survey had been conducted in the state and it was found that nearly 13 lakh kanals (1 kanal=3,400 square feet) had been encroached upon in the past 17 years.

The government was going to launch a drive to get this land retrieved from land grabbers and influential people in six months.