)
Wipro's repeated failure to keep its commitment on launching full-fledged operation at its city unit has drawn the wrath of the state government. Making its intent amply clear, the state IT department has asked Wipro to respond latest by June 15 or face stern action in terms of cancellation of the allotted land.
The department had earlier written several letters to the company urging it to expedite work on its city campus and called for timelines in this regard. Should Wipro fail to come up with its response by June 15, the IT department would be constrained to take steps to resume 26 acres of land allotted to the IT firm, IT secretary P K Jena said in a letter to Wipro's chief executive officer, TK Kurien.
Pointing out that Wipro had consistently failed to keep its commitments to develop its Bhubaneswar centre, Jena said, the government was facing embarrassment from several quarters for allotting the patch of land to the company at a prime location in the city.
| FINE PRINT |
|
"Wipro remains committed to its investment and to grow in the city of Bhubaneswar," said a Wipro spokesperson in a email statement.
The state government, in 2005, had allotted the land to Wipro in Infocity, a IT hub. The original plan was to construct five towers (G+10), which would house 11,000 technical associates. Though Wipro commenced construction in 2007, it had gone slow on the work and lagged far behind its peers like Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Tech Mahindra, which set up full-fledged campuses in the city.
In the letter, the IT secretary also expressed his displeasure over Wipro's lack of response to a recent letter from the state IT minister.
Peeved with Wipro's tepid progress, IT minister Pranab Prakash Das had shot off a letter to Kurien last month. This followed his meeting with Hariprasad Hegde, senior VP and global head (operation), Wipro.
"This is unfortunate on part of Wipro that none of the commitments made by Hegde during his visit to Odisha on January 21, 2015 has been fulfilled till date even as all the timelines of his commitment are over now. Due to such inaction by Wipro, the state is facing serious embarrassment from different corners for providing 26 acre to the company in Bhubaneswar city," Das had stated in the letter.
During his meeting with the minister, Hegde had committed that Wipro would set up a 4,000-seater complex in 18 months.
Currently, Wipro employed barely around 100 employees at its city centre. Wipro had announced to undertake its next phase of expansion to house 4,000 more technical associates by constructing two more towers (Ground+8). The IT behemoth was supposed to submit the building plan for the two new towers in February 2015 for approval by the state government and implement the expansion plan after obtaining the approval.
