Assocham and Videocon chief Venugopal Dhoot "land grabbing" in the name of SEZ

Kishor Tiwari
vidarbha@gmail.com

Nagpur-20 JAN,2007 time 20.08 P.M. IST

Ref.- Newly-elected president of industry body
Assocham and Videocon chief Venugopal Dhoot on Tuesday
said he was against "land grabbing" in the name of
SEZs.


Sub= mass land grabbing of mahrashtra govt. for sez in
the name of mega projects.

please find assocham chief venugopal dhoot remark on
SEZ ,he is after big industrial icon Rahul Bajaj
spoke on SEZ in  AND  fact is that  maharshtra govt.
has 60 SEZ  AND 116  so called  MEGA PROJECTS  for
which they land grabbing under section 11(4) all
parties in maharshtra are supporting this land
grabbing due wested interest of their leaders, all
leaders in BJP-SENA in opposition and CONG-NCP
leaders are keen in land grabbing programme in the
name of SEZ-MEGA PROJECT.  now  who will protect these
maharashtra innocent farmers who are also Keen to sale
their land for sez more over local M.L.A.,s are acting
as agents for these industrial houses some are on
their pay role too.here is PTI verstion assocham chief
over sez tamasha.


Dhoot opposes 'land grabbing' in the name of SEZs

PTI |   January   16, 2007 | 13:36 IST

Newly-elected president of industry body Assocham and
Videocon chief Venugopal Dhoot on Tuesday said he was
against "land grabbing" in the name of SEZs and the
chamber would take farmers on board while pursuing
industrialisation.

"Assocham is against land grabbing. We are for farmers
and when we undertake industrialisation we would like
to convince them that it is for their benefit," Dhoot
told PTI in his first interview before assuming
office.

With controversies surrounding land acquisition for
SEZs and other industrial projects in many parts of
the country, Dhoot reiterated there was "no sense in
making SEZs by compromising the interest of farmers".

His comments come in the backdrop of protests against
Indonesia's Salim Group's Special Economic Zone at
Nandigram in West Bengal, Tata Motors' car project at
Singur and against SEZs in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and
Maharashtra among others.

On the issue of rehabilitation policy proposed by the
Prime Minister, he said the chamber would support it.

Asked if Assocham was ready to speak to politicians
who were agitating against acquisition of farm land
for industrial purpose, Dhoot said: "As a chamber we
do not believe in talking to individuals. If any issue
has to be taken up then we will speak to governments,
including chief ministers." 

Dhoot, whose group has been active in global
takeovers, said government should provide support and
incentives to parent Indian companies that are
investing overseas. 

"If the Tatas succeed in acquiring Corus, they should
be given tax benefits here proportionate to their
investment abroad," he said, adding this would not
violate any WTO norms.�



Commenting on the contentious issue of job reservation
in the private sector, Dhoot said the chamber was
against any forcible quotas but was already working on
affirmative action and ready to take it up in a phased
manner.

"We have asked the government not to force any laws
upon us and see our action for a year," he said,
adding, the chamber would ask its members to highlight
their affirmative action on balance sheets.

He said forcible job reservations in private sector
could have an impact on 'brand India', which has been
picking up globally.

Dhoot also said the threshold for number of employees
in a company for job reservation should be raised to
400 from the current proposed 50, and gradually
brought it down to 300 in the first year and 200 in
the third.

He said Finance Minister P Chidambaram's recent
remarks to industry against inducing production-driven
inflation were friendly in nature and could not be
interpreted as "micro-managing" the economy.

Chidambaram's advice to industry had come in for
criticism from another apex chamber, which had said
that the finance ministry was micro-managing the
economy.The new Assocham chief said the current
liquidity crisis was only temporary and hoped the RBI
would relax the tight norms governing monetary policy
once prices start coming down.
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URL for this article:
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/jan/16sez.htm