Nasscom urges West Bengal government to allocate land to IT firms

Nasscom has urged the West Bengal government to allocate land to the IT sector on a priority basis even as the state government said it has not rejected proposals from IT majors Wipro and Infosys for setting up units near the state capital.

According to Left Front chairman Biman Bose, the government had only scrapped the IT park, which was to come up near the controversial Vedic Village resort. He was talking to reporters after a LF meeting in Kolkata.

At the meeting chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said the proposals of Infosys and Wipro had not been rejected.

In April 2008, the state government had inked separate MoUs with Infosys and Wipro for setting up IT facilities for which they had each sough 90 acres of land from the government.

Meanwhile, the IT industry apex body, Nasscom, at a CEO meet in Kolkata has urged the government to re-prioritise its land allocation policy for IT projects in the state to create a lot of downstream activity.

Nasscom's observations come in the backdrop of the West Bengal government's decision to scrap the mega-IT park near Vedic Village, where both companies were to be allotted land. Nasscom also said that the state government should be involved in acquisition of land for the IT projects.