Videocon's Wagholi SEZ may be scrapped

In the wake of stiff opposition from farmers, the Maharashtra government may be forced to cancel the proposed 4,500 acres special economic zone (SEZ) proposed by the Videocon Group, at Wagholi near Pune.

Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), the nodal agency for this project, has put on hold the land acquisition process and the state government is expected to announce a final decision within three weeks.

The SEZ project has remained under scanner right from the initial stages. The MIDC had initiated the land acquisition process for this SEZ in four villages namely Wagholi, Kesnand, Bakori and Loni Kand, located along Pune-Auragabad highway early this year. Farmers, who were against forceful land acquisition for SEZ, had then beaten up two Videocon officials and an official from Pune district administration. The farmers stuck to their stand and steadfastly opposed the SEZ proposal at various levels.

Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar told a delegation of farmers who met him recently that the state government is planning to scrap the Videocon SEZ project. MLA Vilas Lande, representing farmers from this region, told Business Standard that Pawar has already spoken to the state's industries secretary VK Jairath over this issue and the necessary action would follow soon. "Pawar has also asked farmers not to sell their land as the SEZ might not come up at this site," Lande said.

Interestingly, the MIDC headquarters in Mumbai is yet to receive any intimation over this issue. MIDC CEO Rajiv Jalota told Business Standard that there has been no communication over this issue from Pune district collector's office.

The Pune district administration however, confirmed that the process to re-instate names of farmers on the original 7/12 land ownership extract would begin in near future. "In the wake of the SEZ land acquisition process, MIDC's name was introduced on 7/12 extracts. However, the same would now be replaced by names of farmers who own the land," a top revenue department officer said.

When contacted, Videocon CEO Venugopal Dhoot asserted that the SEZ project is very much 'on'. "The discussion over government scrapping the SEZ is baseless. Hence, I just do not want to react to rumours," Dhoot stated.