State to sue IT companies

The euphoria that the city will soon surpass Bangalore as The IT hub of the country appears to be finally wearing off.
The government is now examining legal options to prosecute the companies that had not made full use of the land given to them. Since 1996, about 2,600 acres of land has been gifted to the IT companies across the State and a huge chunk of it is obviously in Hyderabad.The IT Department has woken up to the sobering reality with an embarassing hangover - it has parted with valuable land worth thousands of crores in the belief that the IT companies will set up shop here. But have they? They have apparently not made full use of the land for the purpose intended. In a damage control excercise, the government is now examining legal options to prosecute the companies that had not made full use of the land given to them. Since 1996, about 2,600 acres of land has been gifted to the IT companies across the State and a huge chunk of it is obviously in Hyderabad. The chastened IT Department officials are also engaged in a thorough discussion over safeguards that should be built in the agreements they enter into with companies in the future. This wisdom has dawned on them after they have analysed information collected over the last six months on how the companies are doing vis-a-vis the land allotted to them. The inference from the analysis is that about 40 per cent of the land given to the companies has not been put to full use. Though the officials are happy with most of the companies on the promise of giving preference to youth from AP in employment, in other respects the companies have not done anything they had spoken of at the time of allotment. "It has been a common feature among all the companies - to paint a rosy picture that they will transform AP economy overnight at the time of seeking land. But in practice, they are doing precious little. In some cases, land is not used at all. For 2,600 acres, we should have had by now 30 million square ft of office space. In reality , it is only 2.8 million square ft. The figure is selfexplanatory," one official pointed out. Besides, legal problems have come in the way of genuine companies. "For instance, in Kokapet, we have allotted about 30 acres to 10 companies including Google, Amazon and Patni Computers. With the court staying any development activity in the area, the companies are unable to do anything, the official explained. Source: The New Indian Express