Infrastructure glitches mar Orissa's IT hub strategy

Even as the Orissa government is stepping up its efforts to turn the temple city of Bhubaneshwar into an IT destination, small and medium IT companies in the state are keeping their fingers crossed on the outcome as infrastructural problems, which they feel, continue to plague the city.

They have sought the state chief minister Naveen Patnaik's intervention on the speedy development of infrastructure in and around Infocity, the state IT hub. President of the IT SME forum in the state Confederation of Information Technology Enterprises (CITE), Bijoy K Sahoo said, "We are planning to meet the chief minister and apprise him of the infrastructural problems that are likely to crop up once the all the IT companies start functioning from Infocity."

A note being prepared by CITE points out that the government should pull up its socks to face the onrushing infrastructural challenge posed by the upcoming IT/ITES sector in the state.

Till now, IT/ITES sector is considered the highest employment service provider when the investment to employment ratio is taken into account.

The suggestions include: Four laning of the access roads to Infocity, introduction of public transport services to avoid future congestion, creation of social infrastructure like creches, school, entertainment and shopping centres, training and manpower development, strengthening police stations and fire brigade for emergency purposes.

Chief executive officer of the state sponsored body Orissa Computer Application Centre (OCAC) and the nodal agency for IT investments in state, Vishal Dev, said, "The government is aware of the problems and a high-level task force under the chief minister has been constituted to take care of any infrastructure problems that may crop up around Infocity and other areas."