Times of India
Pics: Dayanand kukkaje

Mangalore, Jan 30: Dileep Kamath, president of Parivartana, Belgaum, on Tuesday urged farmers not to demand relocation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) to other areas, but fight for the total scrapping of SEZs in the country.

Taking part in the farmers’ mega rally and Convention for Rights Assertion to oppose SEZ, Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemical Investment Region (PCPIR) and the thermal power plant here, Kamath said farmer leaders from other parts of the state have come here to support the struggle against SEZ. “Demanding relocation of SEZ will not be fair to farmers in other parts of the state,’’ he noted.

Observing that women were in the forefront for scrapping the first 453-acre food park SEZ in Belgaum, Kamath said men usually were a hesitant lot, thinking about the compensation. “Women’s hearts are in the right place, as they think about what would happen to them and their children without the land, after the men have squandered the money,’’ he noted.

Kamath said no doubt democracy prevailed in India to the extent of polls. “After getting elected, politicians make laws without taking people’s opinion into consideration,’’ he added.

Pointing out that China had only seven SEZs, that too state-controlled, he said that as many as 35 crore farmers were migrating in search of jobs after their lands were given to SEZs. Taking a dig at MLAs who went on a jaunt to see development in China, Kamath said that what the MLAs failed to see was that China now imports rice. “Should such a fate befall us?” he questioned.

Earlier, Goa Movement Against SEZ president Matanhy Saldana said that what SEZs were establishing was a country within a country. “It was a return of colonialism in a different form, but with the same result,’’ he said.

Reminding farmers that polls were in the offing, Saldanha urged people to assert their rights and make political parties agree to their terms. “For once, forget your personal differences and come together, lest you won’t have anything to fight for,’’ he added.

The struggle for freedom is a continuous process, he said, adding that some may have to die in the process, as had happened at Nandigram. “It’s for the betterment of your children,’’ he added.

Political parties in the district were also given a forum at the meet to make their stand clear about SEZ. While the Congress did not have any stand, BJP opposed the Nagarjuna thermal plant and Petrochemical Complex Investment Region project. Monappa Bhandary, president of the DK BJP, sought time on M-SEZ, saying a committee was studying it. Other parties like JD(S), Samajwadi and Bahujan Samaj Party and CPM expressed total opposition, but failed to explain their plan of action against SEZs.

Somanath Nayak, president of Nagarika Seva Trust, which organized the rally, gave the parties a fortnight’s ultimatum, saying that they would start a campaign to vote against parties which were not against SEZs.