Karat

New Delhi, Sept. 26: The CPM has demanded a ceiling on the land that can be given to promoter-companies to set up special economic zones.

“There is at present no ceiling on the land that can be acquired for SEZs. More than 10,000 hectares can be taken…. We want the SEZ act to put a ceiling on the land,” CPM general secretary Prakash Karat told reporters here today after a two-day meeting of the party’s central committee.

The special economic zones and their impact on farmers and farm workers was one of the main issues discussed at the meeting.

The CPM will prepare a note containing the amendments it wants to the special economic zone act. After discussions among Left Front partners, the note will be handed to the Centre.

“The present SEZ act and the rules for the SEZs provide (for) large tracts of land to be acquired and handed over to promoter-companies,” the central committee said.

“This is going to lead to large-scale displacement of farmers, meagre compensation and no alternative means of livelihood.”

Karat argued that the Bengal model should be adopted for the whole of India. “SEZs can only be set up with the approval of the state governments.”

The party has already been insisting that half the land in special economic zones be reserved for industry and another fourth for related infrastructure.

While people are losing their land, realtors are acquiring it cheaply, the central committee said.

The CPM’s support for the special economic zones is new. Most of the party’s policy turnabouts have been propelled by the needs of Bengal and prodding from its chief minister.

The party has been under fire over land acquisitions from not only adversaries like the Trinamul Congress but also its Left Front partners. Even its own trade union bosses are not happy.

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s efforts to industrialise Bengal has pushed his party leadership in Delhi to try and devise strategies that would meet the state’s interests while taking care of the CPM’s core constituency of the poor and landless.

The suggested amendments to the SEZ act are an effort in this direction. The CPM doesn’t want to be seen as a supporter of an industrialisation process that adds to the numbers of the landless. Therefore the insistence on the kind of land that can be acquired and the amount to be given in compensation.

“The compensation cannot be just for the farmers but also agricultural workers,” Karat said.