By Prensa Latina
New Delhi : The Indian government will allocate almost $6 million to establish within two weeks the first Special Economic Zone in the cooperative sector, The Times of India reported Friday.
Since April 2000 the Government of India has introduced Special Economic Zones in the country, and there are now 200 such zones deemed to be foreign territory for the purposes of trade operations, duties and tariffs.
This project, the first cooperative, is the idea of rural civil engineer Mohan Raut, and will be created in Girner, in the undeveloped Marathwada region in southern Maharastra State.
Raut established the Rajiv Gandhi Cooperative Society of Information Technology Parks with an initial seven members, but once the SEZs concept was defined, the membership reached 250 in the last six months.
The Department of Industries reported that the central government has approved a record figure of 123 cooperative SEZs in Maharashtra, the country’s third largest state and second most populated after Uttar Pradesh.
The total investment will reach $346 million, including the purchase of nearly 124,000 acres, and it is estimated that 570,000 workers will be employed.
The leading cooperative society has collected $642,000 and expects government financial assistance of $6.4 million for the project.