Special Economic Zones

land allotted for SEZs was misused and diverted. This is especially important in the light of the discussion happening around the Land Acquisition Ordinance of the NDA government.(Report number 21 of 2014 of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on Performance of Special Economic Zones (SEZs)) Diversion of SEZ land for commercial purposes: 14% of land i.e., out of 39245.56 hectares of land notified in the six States. 10,5402.22 hectares was diverted for commercial purposes after de-notification. Many tracts of these lands were acquired invoking the ‘public purpose’ clause. Thus, land acquired was not serving the objectives of the SEZ act. Restricted land allotted for SEZ activity: Nine (9) SEZs were allotted land which was restricted under various statutes (Defence, Forest, Irrigated land) in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal involving 2949.61 hectares of restricted land as detailed below.

Nature of Land	State	Area of Land Notified as SEZ	Area of Land Under restricted category	Area of Land % of restricted land notified as SEZ
Defence land	Andhra Pradesh	80.93	29.54	36.5
Forest land	Andhra Pradesh	331.97	331.97	100
Forest land	West Bengal	36.42	21.93	60.19
Irrigated land	Andhra Pradesh	3587.38	2556.14	71.25
Green Zone	Maharashtra	10.03	10.03	100
Total		4046.73	2949.61	72.89%