Ashwatha Narayana meets Rajnath Singh; seeks 750 acres defence land in Belagavi for IT park

New Delhi: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwatha Narayana on Saturday called on Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and requested him to handover 750 acres defence land in Belagavi to facilitate setting up of a proposed IT park.

The defence land, which originally belongs to Belagavi, is located adjacent to the National Highway 4 and is ideal for the development of IT park, he told reporters after the meeting.

Though the state government had sought for the transfer of this land in November 2012, it is still in the possession of the defence department, he added.

Narayan, who holds the Electronic and the IT-BT portfolio, said the state government has introduced a new IT policy recently and has rolled out the ”Beyond Bengaluru” project to promote IT/ITes, electronic industries in regions outside Bengaluru.

“In light of the above reasons, handing over of the land in Belagavi would enable the growth of the IT-related industry so as to achieve a balanced growth,” he said.

The proposed IT park aims to generate about 60 lakh direct and indirect jobs and there has been a persistent demand for this from the representatives of the Belagavi region, he added.