New Delhi: Prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh today hinted that the government would go slow on on the SEZ issue due to "inadequacies" in the process asserted that the decision was "irreversible". Singh was speaking at the India Today conclave in New Delhi today.

The UPA government has faced criticism in Parliament conduct of its crucial Left ally, the CPM and the strong arm tactics of its cadres to intimidate local farmers in to surrendering their land for the Salim group's proposed chemical hub, and the police firing at Nandigram that led to the deaths of several farmers.

On the issue of land acquisition for public purposes, Dr Singh said, "There have been inadequacies in compensation and in ensuring that interest of all stakeholders who suffer in this process are taken into account". The PM said that the government was in the process of formulating "humane, effective and just policy" with regard to resettlement of land oustees.

In response to a question whether government proposed to overhaul the SEZ policy in view of strong reservations in several quarters, the PM said, "These are decisions which are irreversible. Therefore, it is very important that before we move, if there are any gaps in the performance, gaps in the design and gaps in the implementation, we should halt a little bit even though it takes time."

However, he asserted that the cost of the delay was going to be much less than the cost that would arise if policies were "bulldozed" regardless of the human, social and economic concerns. These concerns needed to be addressed "if we want the policy to succeed in the long run," he said.