Bengal scraps IT township project after land row

"The government does not want to be involved in any illegal activity. Already, some departments have opined to scrap the project. So, under the current circumstances, we are unable to stick to our assurances of providing land to Wipro and Infosys and thereby constrained to inform them about the government's inability," the state IT department said in a press statement.

The proposed project near the luxury resort Vedic Village at Rajarhat had become controversial in recent weeks following allegations of irregularities in land acquisition.

Recently, Land and Land Reforms Minister Abdur Rezzak Mollah had demanded that the project be scrapped.

State Housing Minister Gautam Deb too said last week that if unfair practices were adopted for acquiring land then it (the project) should be scrapped, while absolving himself from charges of coercion in acquiring land for Rajarhat New Town.

The state IT department had signed separate memoranda of understanding (MoUs) in April 2008 with Wipro and Infosys to hand over 90 acres to each as part of a deal that it got into with Vedic Realty for a 1,600-acre IT township project, of which 600 acres was supposed to be handed over to the government in lieu of the infrastructure that it would create.

The representatives of Wipro and Infosys, along with IT department, met Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to seal the agreements.

Just before the Vedic Village episode came to the fore, state IT Minister Debesh Das had said that the government would hand over the land to the IT companies by December.

When contacted, a spokesperson of Infosys said on today's development: "The government has to officially inform us of the development. We had signed an MoU with the government where we were supposed to get land. Once we get an official notification, we will see if any alternatives could be arranged. But in any case, all infrastructure projects for the current year are on hold so even we had got the land right now in West Bengal we would had taken some time to proceed with a new campus in the state."

A statement issued by Laxman Badiga, chief information officer of Wipro Technologies, said: "We are currently assessing the West Bengal government's announcement on the non-availability of land for the IT facility and we are awaiting a formal confirmation on that. We expect that the government is able to allocate a suitable land to build the facility."

In May 2009, the IT department got 90 acres from the private partner that could be given to IT companies. On May 27, Webel, the nodal agency for state IT department, provided the details of the 90 acres to Infosys. Infosys informed the state IT department that though it was keen to take land but preferred to go slow at present in view of the global economic slowdown.

An understanding was reached between the state IT department and Wipro to provide it 50 acres of land.

The press release issued by the West Bengal IT department, said, "Despite continuous efforts, land could not be offered to some key IT companies who have been demanding it since 2004-2005. This has been hindering the growth and depriving the state from realizing its full potential in this sector. Three of the top five employers are TCS, Wipro and Infosys. All are expected to grow at 12.15 per cent annually in today's tough times and at 30 per cent in the good times."

In the middle of 2006, Infosys was shown land near vedic village by WBIDC. The state government had planned to make land available for Infosys and other IT companies near Vedic village by March 2007. But this land could not be acquired till date.

Failing to get land in West Bengal, several IT companies like Infosys, Zensar and Wipro started getting land and expanding their base in other states like Orissa.

IT department started acquiring land through Land and Land Reforms Department at Jagadishpur Mouza, which came under opposition. In September, 2008 the notice under section 4 was given which sparked off agitation. In May, 2009 the notice under section 6 was given.

However, due to public agitation, it was stalled. IT department was offering a high price for acquisition – about Rs 1.10 lakh per cottah (evidence shows that it was much higher than the market price).

When the government failed to provide land and accommodate IT companies, a private company on its own initiative contacted Infosys and offered them land in the area close to Airport and Rajarhat New Town. Infosys visited the area a number of times and agreed to take the land and come here provided the government was involved in the project. The company also engaged the renowned architect of the country, Hafeez Contractor, whose services are extensively used by Infosys also for its other projects.

The private company, Akash Nirman, a consortium of developers including Raj Modi, promoter of Vedic Village, offered a proposal to IT department for an IT township in this area. A joint venture company was floated by Akash Nirman and Webel for the project.

Akash Nirman gave an undertaking to assemble land for the development of this integrated IT Township. It proposed to hand over 50 per cent of the land assembled free of cost to government to allot land to IT companies. For this, the company was willing to enter into a joint venture agreement with Webel for the creation of a joint sector company for the development of an integrated IT township complete with required social infrastructure like commercial complex, convention centre, housing, food court, hospitals, gymnasium, training centres, etc. In lieu of sharing 50 per cent of land with Webel and government for allocation to IT companies, the joint venture partner expected Webel to take the responsibility of providing the road connectivity for this township as well as the other required physical infrastructure facilities like power, water supply, sewerage disposal, etc, at the doorstep of the proposed project area.

Taking into account the urgent requirement of land by some key IT companies - Wipro, Infosys, ITC Infotech, ICICI, - the state IT department prepared a Cabinet Memorandum for entering into this partnership for the establishment of this IT township. The cabinet memo was submitted to finance department, which made some observations.