Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Jun 17:

Technology giant Wipro has unveiled its plans to set up a development centre in Odisha capital with a floor strength of 28, 000. This came in response to state government’s threat to the IT major to take back the 26 acres of land allotted to it should it not start its operations in the city soon.

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In its reply to the state government’s letter, Wipro said that it is awaiting Central nod regarding its proposal for a special economic zone (SEZ) following which the construction of its development centre would take off.

“Wipro remains committed to its investment and to grow in the city of Bhubaneswar. An application pertaining to special economic zone (SEZ) is pending approval at the Centre. After the decks are cleared by the Union Commerce and Industry Ministry, we would begin construction to accommodate 4, 000 employees in the first phase. The centre would come up over an area of 2.8 million square feet with a floor strength of 28, 000 employees,” T K Kurien, CEO of Wipro, said in the letter to state IT minister Pranab Prakash Das.

The software company head assured the government that it would recruit 1800 staff in the coming 10 months.

Notably, Wipro has its corporate office here in the capital city. The state government had allotted 26 acres of land to it for expansion and setting up its development centre at the new unit in 2005. Though the construction at the site began in 2007, the work slowed down later.

Concerned over the sluggish progress of the project, the state government, in January this year, had thraetened to repossess the land allotted to the company if it did not go ahead with its plans. The government had asked it to respond by June 15.

Earlier, the IT department had asked Wipro several times to expedite work on its city campus and sought timelines from the company on its completion.

Besides, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had also sought the intervention of Wipro chairman Azim Premji 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 and 11,000 technical associates.

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