E-Paper
?RIL?s SEZ not farmer-friendly?
The Haryana government is not disclosing facts pertaining to the transfer of 1,700 acres of land to RIL.
The Haryana government is not disclosing facts pertaining to the transfer of 1,700 acres of land to Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) where the company plans to set up a special economic zone, Kuldeep Bishnoi, a Member of Parliament, has said.
"I had applied for all file notings pertaining to the land transfer case under the Right to Information Act to the senior information officer of HSIIDC on August 30 and the reply I received well after the statutory time limit was unsatisfactory. I was, instead, supplied with the achievements of HSIIDC," Kuldep said.
The MP said he received a reply from the Haryana government under RTI just three days back. "Instead I was asked to name the file notings I wanted," Bishnoi added.
In an significant disclosure, he said the state government admitted in its reply to him under the RTI that the ‘environment impact assessment study’ or ‘ecological impact study’ of the area where the SEZ was coming up had not been conducted till date.
Bishnoi alleged the Haryana government was not only functioning against the interest of farmers, it was also contradicting Congress president Sonia Gandhi's appeal asking state governments not to acquire fertile land for industrialisation.
"The Haryana chief minister should act now and hand over the 1,700 acres of land back to HSIIDC which is capable enough to develop the SEZ on its own. The state government should not allow acquisition of land for the SEZ in the national capital region, including Gurgaon," he said.
However, chief minister Bhupinder S Hooda reiterated his government was committed to safeguard the interests of farmers.
Rejecting the criticism on setting up of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Haryana, the Chief Minister justified the scheme saying the zones were being set up for the welfare of the people.
