State to renew bid to empty army land for IT

[sukishan]

Faced with a severe land crunch for IT companies, the West Bengal government is renewing efforts to unlock land from defence installations and a state transport depot in Sector V. If the state government is successful, it could free up 77.5 acres for IT companies.

There is a 3rd Madras Regiment unit at GM and EM block of sector V, the IT hub of the city, spread over 60 acres. That apart, the CRPF headquarters at BN block is spread over 10 acres.

There is a depot of Calcutta State Transport Corporation opposite the Wipro (WIPRO.NS : 551.95 -2.4) facility over an area of around 7.5 acres. Earlier, the state government's efforts to relocate the depot were shelved following protests from CSTC employees.

SA Ahmed, chairman of Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA), said, "The state government is renewing its efforts to relocate the army and CRPF establishments and CSTC depot." NDITA is responsible for creation and maintenance of infrastructure in sector V.

According to a press release posted on the IT department's website on Monday, the state government says there is an urgent requirement of land by key IT companies like Wipro, Infosys (INFOSYS.BO : 2200 -23.4), ITC Infotech and ICICI (ICICIBANK.NS : 785.5 -3.35).

In fact, the release says non-availability of land has pushed companies like Infosys and Zensar Technologies to move to Orissa.

The state government had asked defence ministry and the CSTC to relocate their establishments.

"Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had written to the defence ministry earlier but nothing has happened so far," Ahmed said.

"It is possible to allocate land to more IT companies if these establishments are relocated," Ahmed said. At present barely 64 acres can be offered to IT companies in sector V.

So far there has been an investment of Rs 3,000 crore in the development of infrastructure in the area, of which Rs 1,000 crore has been invested in the last two-and-a-half years.