Senior BJP leader and former Union minister Ravishankar Prasad on Tuesday said that a massive scandal appears to be brewing in the reckless approval of special economic zones (SEZs). Mr Prasad said SEZs were giving realtors a chance to grab prime land. The SEZs are degenerating into land grab, he said. Initiating the debate in the Rajya Sabha on demands for grants of the Union commerce and industry ministry, Mr Prasad asked several questions, especially on the size of the SEZs and why uniform exemptions were being granted even in the nonprocessing zones of the SEZs. He asked why the SEZs were not sectorspecific. Mr Prasad said Union commerce minister Kamal Nath should clarify what is the norm in sanctioning SEZs and why SEZs are multi-sector. Mr Prasad explained that it appeared scandalous as the Union commerce ministry came up with the thesis that the SEZ land would be divided into processing and non-processing zones. This gave the realtors a chance to step in without any experience and make a beeline to set up hotels, restaurants and malls. Questioning the earmarking of a substantial 60,000 hectares of land for 439 SEZs, he said in the entire world there are just 303 such zones. In China, only six mega-sized zones exist. India has gone in for 439 SEZs.