Nandigram violence wont hurt SEZ future:Kamal Nath

Excerpts from Power Breakfast on CNBC-TV18 Watch the full show » RELATED NEWS WB to impose 12.5% VAT on tobacco products Nandigram firings prompt 12-hour bandh in WB Nifty BSE | NSE 10/02/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on Nifty?

Life is slowly limping back to normal in West Bengal after Friday's near total bandh. Meanwhile, the state government has decided to put on hold all proposals for setting up Special Economic Zones statewide. However, speaking to the TV18 network earlier, Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said that the violence in Nandigram is not going to hurt the future of SEZs, reports CNBC-TV18.

 

Kamal Nath was speaking exclusively to Karan Thapar on The Devil's Advocate.

 

Nath said, "There is no political wriggling out. It's an act of Parliament. Cabinet has considered it. But there's the question of land acquisition which must be fair, it must be equitable, it must be at the right price. It must be inclusive of the people. Nandigram was a very unfortunate incident of land acquisition but we must not confuse land acquisition with SEZs. You had the Tata Car project, which was not an SEZ."

 

Nath advised not to confuse the problem of land acquisition with the viability of SEZs. He said, "They are two distinct things."