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The state IT (information and technology) department has urged the Union government to take steps for speedy approval of the proposed IT investment region (ITIR) in Bhubaneswar, the proposal of which is pending long with the Centre.
The ITIR in Odisha is to be developed on an area 10,210 acres between Bhubaneswar and Khurda. Out of the total land, there will be a processing area of 4,300 acres, which will house IT/ITes (enabled services) unnits, electronics hardware manufacturing (EHM) and research and development (R & D) centers.
Even though the state government has already submitted a detailed project report on the ITIR at Bhubaneswar to Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) for promoting IT/ITes and ESDM (Electronic System Design & Manufacturing) units, the matter is still pending with the Union government.
“The DPR of the state government was cleared by the High Power Committee under the chairmanship of cabinet secretary and all necessary clarifications regarding this project have been sent to DeitY. But the proposal is still pending at Government of India level”, Pranab Prakash Das, state IT minister wrote to Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union minister of communications, IT, law and justice.
The letter follows the Centre’s recent letter to the state government asking for ITIR proposal from the state.
In July this year, Das had written to Prasad requesting him for the final approval of the project. Further, the state IT minister during his visit to New Delhi had requested the Union minister in person to give approval for the sector specific investment region.
Subsequently, in October, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had sought the intervention of the prime minister, Narendra Modi to clear the project.
Hence, there is no need to send a fresh proposal by the state government to secretary, DeitY, government of India, Das said in reply.
“I would, therefore, request you to kindly take expeditious steps for approval of the ITIR proposal of Odisha to start development of the project”, Das said in the letter. The proposed project is likely to generate over two lakh job opportunities in the IT, ITes and ESDM sectors.
