Odisha govt gets tough with Wipro: seeks timeline for city project

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Dec 4:

Concerned over the sluggish progress of the Bhubaneswar project of IT major Wipro, the Odisha government has sought a timeline from the company for its completion.

In a letter to T K Kurien, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Wipro Limited, Principal Secretary IT department of the state government P K Jena  has said the Odisha minister for Information Technology (IT) Pranab Prakash Das would like to have a personal meeting with him to discuss the roadmap for Wipro’s operations in Bhubaneswar.

The company’s Bhubaneswar Development Centre, which was opened in September 2012 in the Infocity SEZ, is yet to begin full-fledged operations.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had sought the intervention of Wipro chairman Azim Premji last year for fast forwarding the project. Kurien had then assured that the Bhubaneswar Centre will be given priority and construction of the first G+10 block will be completed to house the next wave of new projects.

However, no progress has been made even after a year, Jena said in the letter.

The state government had allotted 26 acres of land to Wipro in 2005 to build five towers (G+10) for housing 11,000 technical associates.

Due to the inordinate delay of the project, the state government is facing embarrassment from different corners, including from the Accountant General for non utilization of the land allotted to the company in the SEZ.

And to add salt to the injury, Wipro management recently turned down the state government’s request for a meeting with Premji at Bangalore, saying the chairman was out of the city.