Naveen seeks Centre's nod for pending ITIR project

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik today urged the Union minister for Communications and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad to accord final approval for the inordinately delayed ITIR (IT investment region) project in Bhubaneswar entailing a cost of Rs 3,700 crore.

Patnaik called on the Union minister at New Delhi and requested him to grant early approval for the project which will come up over 10,210 acres of land.

The High Power Committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary had cleared the project in its meeting on July 6, 2012 and the state had also agreed to the proposed changes in the ITIR Policy resolution.

Seeking Prasad's intervention for final clearance for a Electronic Manufacturing Cluster at Infovalley, Patnaik apprised him that the state government has submitted the final Detailed Project Report and the application along with all necessary documents required for the purpose.

Centre had accorded in principle approval for the electronic cluster in July 2014 and the final nod is awaited.

Drawing Prasad's attention to abysmal progress of the National Optical Fibre Network project in the state, Patnaik urged him to direct the Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited to speed up the work and ensure complete connectivity in Phase -I and Phase II districts by December, 2015 and December 2016, respectively.

It may be noted that out of 30 districts, 16 districts comprising 3,298 gram panchayats were targeted to be covered in the first phase by March 2015, but the progress has been tardy. Till March 2015, BBNL has covered only 150 gram panchayats and sought time extension till December 2015. The connectivity to 14 districts in the second phase is scheduled to be achieved by December 2016. Patanik also urged the Union minister to grant final approval for the three new Software Technology Parks at Jajpur, Angul and Sambalpur which are found feasible. The feasibility study reports for these projects, conducted jointly of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Bhubaneswar and the state government, have already been submitted.

On the Digital India Programme, Patnaik suggested to finalise a detailed guidelines of programme and funding pattern and to circulate it at the earliest to enable the state take forward the identified projects. In view of the ensuing Nabakalebara festival in the state this year, the chief minister sought technical support of NIC for developing an exclusive portal for the event and making it operational by April, 2015. Patnaik asked the Union minister to designate a senior level officer of the department for this task.

The state government also urged the Centre to issue a commemorative stamp for the Nabakalebara event.