The Hindu Business Line : Steps taken to reduce farm land acquisition for Mangalore SEZ

Mangalore SEZ Ltd (MSEZL) has taken adequate precautions to reduce the acquisition of agricultural land and to drop eco-sensitive land areas, according to Mr I.S.N. Prasad, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of MSEZL.

Addressing presspersons here on Monday, he said that a minimum of 2,500 acres of contiguous land are required for the establishment of a multi-product SEZ.

In 2006, MSEZL had conducted a detailed study regarding the prevalent land use and land cover pattern, and accordingly the land contiguous to the existing refinery of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemical Ltd has been selected to establish the SEZ.

‘Important yardstick’

“Minimising acquisition of agricultural land and thickly populated areas was an important yardstick in the selection process.

By dropping 1,000 acres of land acquisition in Kuthethoor village, which has higher agricultural land, and 870 acres near Biakampady, MSEZL has taken adequate measures to reduce the acquisition of agricultural land,” he said.

Since contiguity of land is essential as per the SEZ Act, portions of the agricultural land falling within the selected areas have to be acquired. Mr Prasad clarified that MSEZL would not like to go in for forcible acquisition of land. Stating that 1,700 acres is already acquired for the project, he said with the available land MSEZL is notified as sector-specific SEZ. MSEZL aspires to become multi-product SEZ once the minimum requirement of land is met.

R&R PACKAGE

A comprehensive rehabilitation and resettlement (R&R) package has been formulated for the project-displaced families. Besides land cost at Rs 8 lakh per acre and Rs 8.5 lakh per acre for dry and wet land, respectively, the project-displaced will get paid for the crops, horticultural plantations, trees and any kind of structures on the land.

They will be provided with plots on 500 acres to construct their houses.

One job per family or training followed by job per family would be provided. Nearly 220 students from project-displaced families are being given a two-and-a-half-year training at Karnataka Polytechnic in Mangalore to groom them to take up jobs in the proposed industries in MSEZ. Where candidates are not available, one-time compensation of Rs 3.5 lakh per family will be provided, he said.

The implementation of the R&R package will be monitored and overseen by a committee under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district. It will have representatives from project-displaced families as its members.

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