New Delhi, Aug. 28: The Centre is likely to put in place a comprehensive “people-friendly” policy for special economic zones (SEZs).

The decision to lease out huge tracts of land for SEZs has drawn flak from the CPM and sections of the Congress, which have demanded a cap on the policy.

Government sources said the rural development ministry was asked by the Prime Minister’s Office to work out the first draft of the policy and ensure that those displaced from these zones are given a “fairer” deal than immediate monetary compensation.

The Noida “model”, experimented with by the Uttar Pradesh government, was looked at as an option. Apart from paying the original land-owners the prevailing market price after acquisition, the government gave them a small plot with the option of either building a home or keeping it free to be sold whenever the market was conducive.

The Noida “model” replicated the principle adopted by real-estate dealers when buying individual houses to put up high-rises. The owners are paid the price of the land and given one or two apartments, depending on the cost-benefit calculations.

The need for a more “humane” policy emanated from feedback that most of those done out of their holdings by SEZs used the compensation money for immediate purposes like repaying debts, acquiring cars and fancy gizmos and getting their daughters married. The amounts were invested for long-term returns in rare cases. The result was that after the cash was blown, the land-holders became paupers.

Also, the “psychological” damage caused by being “short-changed” for property that turned into a veritable golden goose after changing hands was factored in by lawmakers as a reason why crime was on the increase in and around the SEZs.

Some states like Maharashtra have made it mandatory for the oustees to invest a part of their compensation in government saving schemes so that they have an alternative to fall back on in times of distress. But sources said they found ways of circumventing this norm.

The envisaged policy may also create a central monitoring authority to see how the acquisitions were used.

One of the criticisms by the CPM was that property dealers were the biggest beneficiaries of the scheme, that only 25 per cent of the land was used for productive economic activities while the remaining 75 per cent passed into the hands of realtors.

“We want to see that such misuse is curtailed and the trend is reversed,” a source said.

The SEZ policy, as envisioned by the UPA government, was meant to create “world class” infrastructure through private participation and “freedom from a regulatory regime” of taxation and customs duties.

A section of the Congress felt it encouraged “crony capitalism” without any productive activity or employment.

The Haryana government was slammed by Congress MP Kuldeep Bishnoi for its SEZ initiative and because one industrial conglomerate benefited by allegedly doing favours to some Congress leaders. The Left demanded that the government should stop with 100 zones instead of the 250 it thought of.

An indication that the Centre could go slow was seen in the Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech. He said: “When I see large development projects coming up, while one rejoices at the progress that is being made, one worries for those who are displaced, for those who have lost their land and livelihood.”