Finally, Bengal manages to sell land to Wipro for new campus

Giving West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee a much-needed boost when his political stock is sinking, Wipro Technologies Ltd, India's third-largest software company, has accepted the state government's offer of land to set up a second IT campus in Kolkata.

A 50-acre plot at Rajarhat on the city's outskirts has been granted to the company at a price of Rs75 crore, and operations will start in 18 months. Wipro has already started recruitment, company chairman Azim Premji said after visiting the plot on Thursday. Premji also had a meeting with Bhattacharjee at the state secretariat, Writers' Buildings.

"We visited the site in the morning and have settled with the government for purchase of the land. We appreciate the support we have received from the state government," Premji said. He added that the plot has a lot of potential.

Later, in a press statement, the company said, ''We are very happy the West Bengal government has put in an alternative plan to identify and provide land to Wipro at Rajarhat. We appreciate the government's commitment to industry and are happy to state that we have decided to proceed with the offer made.''

According to state government officials, the project has the potential to generate employment for 15,000 people.

The land, which currently belongs to the Housing Infrastructure Development Corp (Hidco), will be handed over to Wipro for a price of Rs1.5 crore per acre. State information technology minister Debesh Das said payment for the Rs75-crore plot would be made in two phases, with the first phase payment likely to be executed by the month end.