<On SEZs -
The Central govt is dithering on canceling the SEZs. That is, the govt is
buying time, almost surely at the behest of the SEZ promoters. Digu and his
cohorts will be mighty relieved.>
RESPONSE: Rajan, when you say 'preparing', you are giving the rest of us
some hope that Goa is not dead yet.......:-)
Briefly.....Manohar Parrikar's perspective and vision to bring
SEZ/industries to Goa, especially the pharma/bio-focused and IT Parks was a
good one. Unfortunately they were not realised before he was prematurely
disposed as CM. They are certainly environmentally friendlier than the
polluting mines. However the implementation of the SEZ was skewed by the
current government.
As far as GMAS/Mathany is concerned.....the Goanet archives will attest to
Mathany calling SEZ a 'disaster' in July 2003....12 months later Parrikar
inducted him into the cabinet and possibly bought his silence. Now if
Mathany was genuinely against establishing a SEZ in Goa, don't you think he
should have protested at the time in 2003 or 2004 especially when he was
part of the government? If he protested, I have no knowledge of it. Is this
not the same politician who in Sep 2004 promised to quit the cabinet if the
River Princess was not towed away by January 2005? If he quit, it did not
make it to the Goanet Archives either. Oh yes, the Congress opposition at
the time termed the River Princes "an ecological time bomb waiting to
explode causing long term marine pollution besides being an eyesore." BAH!!
It was really surprising to see Parrikar support/be a part of GMAS and
oppose SEZ (in 2007) even though he promoted SEZ as a Chief Miniser (in
2003/04). There is possibly some ambiguity in his stance - he possibly does
support a SEZ policy for Goa but not in the format implemented in the 3
cases.
As far as cancelling the approved SEZs, are there not legal restrictions to
denotify them?? Some reports indicate they may require some legislative
intervention.
It is unfortunate that grassroots attempts against mining does not seem to
take a hold among the populace like the SEZ issue seems to have.
- Bosco
