Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said 10 SEZ applications, nine of them in the private sector, would be rushed to the Centre for its final approval. The state’s SEZ policy contains a dozen conditions, mainly to ensure the welfare of workers and to curb the real estate interest of the developers. The state government has insisted that 70 per cent of the land should be utilised for industrial purpose. This is a major shift from the Centre’s policy, which stipulates that only 50 per cent of the land needs to be used for industry.

The other highlights of Kerala’s SEZ policy are:

•Supplementary facilities — housing, entertainment etc — to be exclusively dedicated for employees of that particular SEZ only.

•Reclaimed paddy fields would not be given SEZ status.

•The state would not acquire land for establishing private sector SEZs.

•Sales tax exemption for SEZ units would be limited to 10 years only.

•SEZs would be brought under the purview of labour laws, factories act and other welfare schemes.

•SEZ ventures would not be exempted from any electricity incentives.

• All applicants must sign individual agreements with the government, declaring their willingness to abide by the state SEZ policy.

The LDF government’s SEZ policy is a minor victory for Achuthandandan, who had put forward many conditions for SEZs in the private sector. Though his demand for government equity in private SEZs was rejected by the CPM state committee and the politburo, he can find respite from the fact that the land for industrial purpose in SEZs has been raised from 50 per cent to 70 per cent. The official faction in the party favoured 50 per cent of land for industry.

Besides, the Chief Minister also ensured that the issue was discussed in the LDF, when the Pinarayi faction wanted to rush through the SEZ applications. When the official faction declared the SEZ policy in the first week of August, Achuthanandan had challenged it, saying that it was up to the LDF to take a final call on the issue.

While fine-tuning the SEZ policy, CPM snubbed the CPI’s demand for enacting a special legislation or ordinance for protecting the interest of the state and workers in SEZ. However, forcing the CPM to go for a special SEZ policy has saved the CPI from a major embarrassing situation.