 "Karnataka clears Rs 1,373 cr investment proposal of Honeywell")
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who chaired the State High-Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC), told reporters the government had also approved the company’s proposal to acquire 5.4 acres at Doddakannalli village from farmers directly, under Section 109 of the Karnataka Land Reforms Act.
After an hour-long meeting with officials from industries and commerce department, Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB), department of IT, BT and S&T, and minister for IT, BT and S&T S R Patil, Siddaramaiah said the government would not provide any land to Honeywell. “We have allowed them to acquire private land on their own as per the Act,” he said.
Also Read
Siddaramaiah said the government would speed up works on the development of infrastructure facilities at Devanahalli IT Park. Referring to a move by IT major Infosys, which had threatened to pull out of the project, he said the government would provide all facilities in the next three months.
A total of 1,156 acres acquired for the park, of which 792.03 acres had been allotted to companies like Reliance Jio, Brigade Estates and Project, (25 acres each), Tech Mahindra (15 acres), First Face Information (10 acres), Just Dial (15 acres) and Tata Consulting Engineers (five acres), officials said.
Speaking on the occasion, Patil said KIADB will issue the final notification for acquisition of 2,072 acres near the Kempegowda International Airport for the proposed development of Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR). “The preliminary notification has already been made for the acquisition. We will issue the final notification by the end of December,” he said.
Siddaramaiah said the government will stand guarantee to the KIADB for raising Rs 1,000 crore loan from Housing and Urban Development Corporation (Hudco). The money will be used by the board to compensate farmers for the land acquisition in the first phase.
The government proposes to develop ITIR in two phases. The second phase will include 2,032 acres. Once fully-developed, the ITIR, the first in India, will provide jobs to 1.2 million people. About 50-60 companies have already shown interest in setting up shop at the ITIR. The Centre and state governments have accorded all necessary approvals for the project, Patil said.
Commenting on the recent visit of Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu to Bengaluru to attract investors, Patil said: “We are not in competition with the neighbouring states for investment. We are in competition with the Silicon Valley (US) and want to better them.”
In an effort to develop Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, Siddaramaiah said, the government will provide free land to IT investors if anyone is interested in investing outside Bengaluru.
Appeal to Prime Minister
Siddaramaiah said he had asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw the special concessions extended by the Centre to Andhra Pradesh after bifurcation of the erstwhile state.
“The Centre’s concessions to Andhra Pradesh for investment in the information technology (IT) and other sectors would cause unhealthy competition between states. We cannot offer similar concessions to investors and because of this discrimination, we will lose investors. I have informed Modi about this,” he said.