Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has decided to reclaim the unused land that was leased out to IT major Wipro for its Bhubaneswar project in 2005.
Sources said the company failed to meet its commitments to expand its Bhubaneswar centre and repeatedly lagged on promises. The state government had allotted 26 acres at Infocity in 2005 for the project but the company started construction in 2007. Sources said the company has used only 40 per cent of allotted land.
A committee will now review the matter as the company has failed to meet its commitments, the sources said. The state government will in due course allot the unused land to the small and medium IT companies who are desperately seeking land.
“We are planning to reclaim the unused land and impress upon the company to return it. The state government will review the matter and take a final call as the company has repeatedly failed to honour its promise,” ‘Business Standard’ has reported a government official as saying.
Wipro, however, could not be reached for comment. The company had in 2015, too, received a stern warning from the government that the land it does not use would be reclaimed. In a conciliatory response, Wipro had then spelt out a massive expansion plan for its Bhubaneswar centre, and for creation of a facility for 28,000 employees. The company, though did not spell out any timeline for completion of the plan.
—pnn and agencies
