The State government would take steps to cancel the allotment of land given to private companies in the ELCOT Information Technology (IT) Park in Tiruchi if they do not start operations soon, the Minister for Information Technology R.B. Udayakumar said on Sunday.

No building had come up till now in the 43 acres of land allotted to 10 companies in the Tiruchi IT Park, he told reporters after inspecting the IT Park established at Navalpattu on the city's outskirts. The government had alienated to ELCOT 147.6 acres of land for the establishment of the Tiruchi IT Park.

The State government would look into the background of the companies which were yet to begin operations in the Tiruchi IT Park and issue notices, asking them to function soon. Necessary steps would be taken to cancel the land allotment if the companies fail to start operations, he said.

Accusing the DMK government of not selecting sites properly while establishing IT Parks in eight locations across the State, Mr. Udayakumar said none of the ELCOT IT Parks including the one at Chennai had begun to function.

“Children's parks”

The DMK government had neither provided proper infrastructure facilities nor made suitable arrangements for the IT Parks making it look like “children's parks,” he said.

Many multi-national companies were not interested in coming to Tamil Nadu during the DMK rule as they complained of not getting the right kind of cooperation.

Ground-level problems

The objective behind his inspection was to ascertain the ground-level problems and status of IT Parks and bring it to the notice of the Chief Minister.

Stating that the foundation for IT was laid during the AIADMK regime, he said all efforts were being taken by the present government to take Tamil Nadu a leading State in IT and e-governance. The AIADMK government was keen to provide all help to IT companies and those in the software business and was working with the objective of creating employment opportunities for the IT students and youth.

Efforts would also be taken to impart necessary IT-related training to students to enable them compete in the competitive environment.

The Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Minister N.R. Sivapathy, IT Secretary Santhosh Babu, ELCOT managing director Atul Anand, Collector Jayashree Muralidharan and officials accompanied the Minister.