Wednesday, August 23 2006 11:39 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Ahead of the crucial meeting of the Empowered Group of Ministers on increasing the cap on SEZs, senior Cabinet Ministers Sharad Pawar and Dayanidhi Maran have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to remove the limit on the number of such zones altogether.

Terming such restrictions of 150 on number of SEZ's that could be set up in the country as arbitrary, Pawar and Maran, whose parties are key allies of the Congress-led Government, have said that by limiting the number of SEZ's several investments in the pipeline in various states could get seriously affected.

"When the Cabinet approved the SEZ Bill, there was no mention of cap on the number of SEZs, However, I find that the eGoM has put a cap of 150 for SEZ," Pawar said in his letter.

He pointed out that in the last meeting of the Board of Approval of SEZ's many important cases could not be taken up because the limit of 150 was reached.

"The SEZ Act is one of the most important policies and Acts passed by our government. This Act is a great incentive of new investment in the country which otherwise could not have come," the Maratha strongman said.

He said that the limit defeats the very purpose of the Act and many projects that were in the pipeline for investment in Maharashtra could be impacted.

Maran said in his letter to the Prime Minister that major IT companies have shown interest in developing SEZs and there has been encouraging response from electronics and telecom hardware industry.

"Many applications from these companies are already pending for Tamil Nadu but no new approvals can be given as the limit of 150 has been reached," he added.