THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan has smelt a rat in the new clauses in the Smart City agreement signed between the Tecom and the UDF Government. “Media reports indicate that Smart City is going to be converted into a multi-services SEZ and it would no longer an IT project,” VS wrote in a letter written to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday. According to VS, the Tecom had earlier raised the demand for a multi-purpose SEZ which was later abandoned following the stand of the government. “The Tecom didn’t raise such a demand during the discussion held in February. But, on Thursday, the Chief Minister took the initiative to grant them this status. For this, additional land has been allotted to Tecom,’’ VS alleged in the letter.He demanded the CM to disclose all details of the discussion conducted between the government and the Tecom held on Friday. VS said that there are ambiguities in the deal such as the value of the additional land allotted to the project and the revised number of jobs created by the project. Refuting the claim of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, VS said that the SEZ law states that at least 50 per cent of the land needs to be earmarked for industrial purpose and not 50 per cent specifically as claimed by the CM. "That means, a ratio of 70 to 30 is still valid,’’ VS pointed out.
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