*Buddhadeb wants an end to SEZs* Economy Bureau Posted online: Thursday , October 04, 2007 at 0044 hrs
*Kolkata, Oct 3 *After telling agri-retailers to stay away from cities, West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee now wants to put a stop to new SEZs. His logic: China, which showed the path to economic salvation through the SEZ route, has now decided to move away from that policy. So, it's prudent that India should follow China on this, Bhattacharjee said on Wednesday. "What we feel is that the government of India should give a second thought to its SEZ policy," the state chief minister told members of an industry chamber in Kolkata. "China developed the concept of SEZs and restricted its number to six. And now they are moving away from that idea of development. And what we are doing in our country? We began with 400 SEZs and this is madness," Bhattacharjee said. Since 1980, China has established special economic zones in Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou in Guangdong Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province, and designated the entire province of Hainan as a special economic zone. Harping on the need to follow the revamped Chinese model, Bhattacharjee said China initially throght about promoting SEZ only to increase exports and attract foreign technology and capital indicating that in India the focus is more on unlocking opportunities in real estate development. It is not the first time that West Bengal chief minister has sounded the rhetoric on SEZs. The chief minister, while addressing the FICCI executive council last month, demanded that promotion of SEZs shouldn't be left only to the state governments. But, on Wednesday, he went a step further, suggesting a freeze in approving any new economic zones. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
