Infosys-Government spat continues

Infosys-Government spat continues
No land within 50 km of City, says minister
Deccan Herald

“There is a huge demand for land around Bangalore. If you want to expand your (IT companies) base, then look beyond 50 kilometres. We will provide for you however much land you want beyond this boundary,” Naidu said.

The tussle between IT giant Infosys and the State government over allotment of land for the former’s expansion plans continues.

With Infosys’ HR head T V Mohan Das Pai complaining again on Saturday about the “inordinate” delay on the State government’s part to allot land for its expansion programme, Industries Minister Katta Subramanya Naidu categorically said that there was no land available within 50-kilometre radius of Bangalore.

“There is a huge demand for land around Bangalore. If you want to expand your (IT companies) base, then look beyond 50 kilometres. We will provide for you however much land you want beyond this boundary,” Naidu shot back as Pai tried to explain to mediapersons on how Bangalore was losing out to other cities in opportunities.

Both were addressing the media at the Maharani’s College campus after inaugurating the Surva Kayaka Udyoga Shikshana Yojane, an ambitious scheme of the State government to help the unemployed educated youth to get jobs in the BPO sector.

Five years after the Infosys requested for land, the government is yet to respond. Had the company set up its second campus as planned, 25,000 youths in the State would have got jobs, Pai said.

“But nearly 20,000 of these jobs were snatched away by states like Tamil Nadu and Andra Pradesh,” he said.

The IT bellwether had asked for 825 acres of land near Sarjapur on the outskirts of Bangalore.

Distance no problem

Pai also said that distance was not a problem as long as there was good road connectivity. “It’s no use if we were located near the City and the roads are bad. We have no problem going away, if the road infrastructure is good,” he said.

The city, which used to attract 80 per cent of the market attention three to four years ago, now only gets 60 per cent as investors were looking at neighbouring States, Pai rued.

Pai, however, said that Bangalore continued to be a star of the country in the IT sector.

“We must build on it and make it better,” he added.