Infosys' Mysore expansion hailed at public hearing

The company has got nod from Union environment ministry

While expansion of the Mysore unit of Infosys was welcomed by all those who took part in the Environmental Public Hearing held at the Infosys site on Friday, some people, including a couple of organisational leaders from Mysore, expressed their concern over the its possible impact and wanted redressal measures to be addressed.

The Infosys' Mysore project includes a software centre, learning centre and global facility on 200 acres and it proposes to expand by adding another 61 acres.

In the first phase, it has built 35 lakh square feet area, and in the present expansion it plans a similar expansion, leaving over 30 per cent of the land as green belt, apart from planting 50,000 trees. The green belt will comprise 20 acres of thick vegetation.

The state government has given the go-ahead for the project and clearance has now to come from the ministry of environment, Government of India.

The rapid impact assessment report prepared by a Chennai-based Indo-Dutch consultant has been submitted to the Karnataka Pollution Control Board, which had called for objections from the general public.

The hearing of the public objections was held on Friday by the board.

A major objection received in the six petitions and oral representations at the public hearing was a proposal to include the present road within the campus, which they complained will inconvenience residents, industrialists and people going to the adjacent Kumbarakoppal village, forcing them to take a three-km deviation.

The KIADB officials maintained that this was a 12 feet mud road of the board. The proposed 80-feet road adjacent to Infosys will be a short cut to the adjacent Belagola and Yelwal towns. It will also become a major bypass to Mandya, Krishnarajasagar, Bangalore, Hassan and Mangalore.

Industrialist Lingaraju and a few others maintained that it was a regular road shown in the revenue map and its users should have right of way.

After some debate, it was promised that a link road would be provided behind Infosys.

What was significant at the hearing was that almost all leaders from around the villages, who had assembled in large numbers, and also those from Mysore, were all praise for Infosys and its mentor N R Narayana Murthy and welcomed its expansion.

Infosys had helped their lands fetch a good price, men and women had secured jobs thus improving their economic condition and saving many from drudgery, drought and poverty, many said.