Hyderabad: Nineteen Special Economic Zones, located in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, which were approved by the Union ministry of commerce will be cancelled As per the agenda on the website of the SEZs, the Board of Approvals (BoA) will be meeting on February 20 to formally give its stamp of approval to the cancellation.

Approvals were given to Deccan Infrastructure and Land Holdings Limited (DILL), a company floated by the government of undivided AP in 2006. The previous state government had clearly stated during the meetings held on September 21, 2012, and February 7, 2013, that there had been no progress in the development of SEZs. “Since they have not come up with action plan reports and notified the SEZ projects, we felt it necessary to cancel the approvals” the BoA agenda stated.

Of the SEZs to be cancelled, 14 are of DILL and five are private. According to sources, DILL, which was given approval for 14 SEZs (12 in Telangana and two in AP) is almost defunct post the bifurcation. If the 14 SEZs are cancelled, Telangana will get a land bank of nearly 6,819 acres.