Mumbai:
A
total of 11 special economic zones (SEZs) had been sanctioned
in Kerala, chief minister V S Achuthanandan informed the
state assembly.
These
SEZs would enjoy concessions like exemption in local taxes
and electricity tax as prescribed by the SEZs Act. Besides,
the state would provide them with basic requirements like
electricity and water.
However,
all labour laws under Industrial Disputes Act would also
be applicable to the SEZs, but their enforcement would
be entrusted to a development commissioner in each SEZ.
The
SEZs for which sanction had been given include: Cochin
Port Trust, Vallarpadom (multiproducts), Kinfra, Kakkancherry
(food processing), Kinfra, Kazhakkoottam (IT), Technopark,
Thiruvananthapuram (IT), Smartcity, Kochi(IT), Sutherland
Global Services, Kalamassery (IT),Kinfra, Kochi (electronics)
and Unitech Realestate, Kunnathunadu (IT), he said.
Most
of these, sanctioned under the SEZs Act 2005, are promoted
by public sector facilitators like Kinfra, Technopark
and Cochin Port Trust, he told the house.
Kerala
industries minister Elamaram Kareem had earlier said that
the state government was not opposed to allowing special
economic zones (SEZs) without surrendering labour rights.
The
government was not opposed to granting SEZ-status in deserving
cases if it would help entrepreneurs enjoy certain facilities
and concessions, he said at a discussion on the "Industrial
Scenario of Kerala" organised here by the Kerala
Union of Working Journalists in February.
There
was a wrong notion that SEZs operated totally outside
state labour laws. The truth was that the mechanism to
implement labour laws in SEZs was different to avoid bureaucratic
hassles. In the Central Act, there was a provision for
appointing a labour commissioner in every SEZ to handle
labour issues, he said.
On
the issue of tapping Kerala's mineral wealth, he said
the government's policy was to retain mining rights in
the state sector while allowing private players to set
up units for value-addition. The
soon-to-be unveiled industrial policy will give a thrust
to promotion of industrial parks to tap investment in
areas like IT and electronics, garment-making and food
processing, Kareem said.
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