The Hindu : Task force to promote IT in twin cities

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 06, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Task force to promote IT in twin cities

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE April 5. The Chief Minister, S.M.Krishna, said on Friday that the State Government proposed to introduce air travel between Bangalore and Hubli for government officials from the level of tahsildars for official purposes for the next three years.

Speaking at a seminar on "Destination Hubli" organised by the Department of Information Technology and Biotechnology here, he said a task force would be set up to suggest measures for developing the Hubli-Dharwad region, especially in Information Technology and tourism sectors.

Mr. Krishna said a senior IAS officer would be appointed for the development of infrastructure and other facilities in the region, and he would be stationed in Hubli. There was more than 250,000 sq.ft. of office space at the IT Park in Hubli. Apart from this, there was 800 acres of developed land at a cost of Rs. 7 lakh per acre.

He said the IT Park in Hubli ensured that Information Technology would be extended to other places in the State, apart from Bangalore.

Efforts would be made to extend such facilities to Gulbarga region soon.

B.K.Chandrashekhar, Minister of State for Information Technology, stressed the need to remove customs duty on software introduced in the Central <149>Budget.

He appealed to Jagadish Shettar, Opposition Leader in the Legislative Assembly, to prevail upon the Union Finance Minister and his party for removal of customs duty to promote the IT industry.

H.K.Patil, Minister for Water Resources, said importance should be given to the development of infrastructure such as roads and water supply in the Hubli-Dharwad region.Presenting the findings of a study conducted by McKinsey & Co, commissioned by the IT Department, Ramesh Venkatraman,<149> principal <149>of the company, said with right policies, the Government could generate one million jobs in the Information Technology sector by 2010.

Over six lakh jobs could be created in IT-enabled services alone, of which Mysore, Mangalore, and Hubli had the potential of generating 3.5 lakh jobs.

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