Monday, September 25 2006 14:25 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Endorsing Congress President Sonia Gandhi's concern on acquisition of farmers' land for industrial purposes, the Centre today said it has told state governments to ensure that no prime agricultural land is acquired for setting up Special Economic Zones.

"The Board of Approval for SEZs has made it mandatory that no proposal for setting up SEZs on prime agricultural land be cleared," Commerce Minister Kamal Nath told reporters on the sidelines of a conference here.

He said as land is a state subject under the Constitution, the Commerce Ministry has written to state governments they should not get into land acquisition for private players.

Nath added that he totally agreed with Gandhi on no good farm land to be diverted for industrial purposes. Wherever possible, SEZs should come up only on wasteland or on not very good farm land, he said.

The Congress President, last week at a meeting with Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled states in Nainital, had warned against diversion of farm land for non-agriculture uses. She also said farmers must be "properly compensated" when their land is purchased and advised the industry to make farmers a stakeholder in the projects.