The West Bengal government has been scrapped the chemical hub SEZ that was proposed in Nandigram after the series of protests and March 14 violence. Now, the Naveen Patnaik goverenment in Orissa has also decided to follow the same path to avoid any kind of violence over land acquisition in Orissa.

Orissa government has decided to drop one such tax-free SEZ proposed by the Orissa Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) at Kalinga Nagar.

Earlier, the government had decided to grant the Kalinga Nagar a SEZ status with two project, one to IDCO and other two Jindal steel. The state-owned IDCO was ready to set up a sector specific metallurgical-based engineering and downstream industry over 250 acre at Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex.

The proposed idea also had given ‘in principle’ approval by the government of India. But now, the Orissa government has learnt from the development that has happened in its neighboring state over the matter of land acquisition.

Industries minister B B Harichandan told the other members in state assembly that the government has been decided to drop the IDCO project for the time being.

However, the other SEZ project of Jindal Stainless Steel proposed over 1,102 acre in Kalinga Nagar would go undisturbed. The project has been also got Centre’s approval and there is no problem in this project.

The Times of India has reported that the Jindal group, that requires additional land, would get the land that was with Idco now. Idco no longer has the requisite land for the proposed SEZ. The government has given the logic behind the roll back of this decision that it is not necessary to have two SEZs of similar nature in the same area.

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