Karnataka   

Regulatory body to be set up to oversee IT Habitat

PANAJI: In a bid to placate opposition to the Rajiv Gandhi Information Technology Habitat project being promoted by the Goa Government, Minister for Information Technology Dayanand Narvekar on Wednesday offered to set up a regulatory body to oversee the project.

The IT Habitat project being set up at Taleigao in north Goa by the Information Technology Corporation of Goa, a State-owned corporation, is facing opposition from various quarters, including the local village panchayat and the local MLA. The Nationalist Congress Party, one of the coalition partners, has also opposed the project openly, demanding that it be scrapped.

Mr. Narvekar, who had to cut short his visit to China in view of the crisis over the project, is trying to persuade the local panchayat to stop opposing the project. Mr. Narvekar has expressed his willingness to accommodate representatives of the village panchayat on the coordination committee.

The Minister said that the IT Habitat would mostly have BPOs, R&D units in IT as well as software units. He said that making branded IT companies set up shop in the IT Habitat was never a priority of the Government.

The parties opposing the project have said that of the 18 companies allotted land at the project, hardly four or five are IT or IT-enabled companies while the rest are IT-related real estate developers.

Mr. Narvekar said that it was too late for the Government to scrap the project as already 18 companies had been allotted plots and more than Rs. 50 crore spent on the project till date. The Minister has decided to climb down regarding the issue of allowing the setting up of a shopping mall. He said, “The Government is ready to do away with it if the stakeholders in the IT Habitat agree.”

Mr. Narvekar said, “The IT Habitat is a well thought out project and there is nothing wrong with it, especially as its area was identified by the National Association of Software and Service Companies and passed by the State Cabinet.”

The opposition to the IT Habitat took a serious turn on Thursday when a crowd of local people led by the local MLA and former Minister, Atanasio Monserrate, stopped work at the project site.

The MLA submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister last week demanding that the work be stopped. The gram sabha of the Taleigao Panchayat early this week directed the panchayat not to give permission for construction.

Mr. Monserrate has demanded that Mr. Narvekar attend the next gram sabha at Taleigao and convince the people about the merits of the project and dispel their apprehensions.

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