Proposed IT township project near Rajarhat hits roadblock

Proposed IT township project near Rajarhat hits roadblock
The Hindu Business Line, September 2, 2009, Page 17

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Wipro and Infosys among others were supposed to have their facilities in the township.

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Our Bureau, Kolkata

The prospect of the proposed IT township near Rajarhat, on the fringes of Kolkata, seems to have hit a roadblock due to local disturbances related to land acquisition. Wipro and Infosys, among others, were supposed to have their facilities in the township.

Indicating this on the sidelines of a programme organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce here on Tuesday, Mr Debesh Das, West Bengal IT Minister, said, “The process (of land acquisition) seems to have come to halt for the time being and we would like to wait and watch.”

The State Government would not take any illegal land for the project, he said. Akash Nirman, the nodal agency for land acquisition in the project, was expected to hand over land to the State IT Department, which, in turn, was to offer the same to the IT companies.

Mr Das had earlier said that the State Government was ready to give 90 acres each to Infosys and Wipro as the aggregation of a contiguous 200 acres was complete.

The two companies, however, stated recently that they had no immediate plans in the project in view of the economic downturn.

Out of the 1,600 acres earmarked for the project, 600 acre was to be offered to IT companies, Mr Das had said, adding, ITC Infotech and ICICI’s BPO arm were also interested in taking land in the project.

Mr Raj Kishore Modi, one of the Directors of Akash Nirman, was arrested recently following a land-related controversy in the area after part of a nearby resort Vedic Village, of which Mr Modi is also a Director, was torched by locals.

Meanwhile, addressing the interactive session with the delegation from Wuhan province of China, Mr Das said that the State Government discussed with the members of the delegation, the prospects of setting up bases for solar invertors and optical fibre network in Kolkata in partnership with local companies.