HUBBALLI: After Infosys announced setting up offices in four cities including Coimbatore and Vizag, people in Hubballi have been demanding the software giant start operations in its Hubballi campus which has been created four years ago.
In a bid to closer to the available talent pool, Infosys planned to move to tier-II cities and also it wished to start its campus in Hubballi. The Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board allotted 43.05 acres of land under the special economic zone (SEZ) category. In phase-I, the company developed a campus with a built-up area of 3.64 lakh sqft by 2018 which has a capacity to house 1400 employees. But in the last four years, it had not started operations here.
In the first quarter of 2021, Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (K-tech) also wrote a request letter to Infosys extending all necessary support to start operations in its Hubballi campus. Replying to the letter, the company said they were hindered by certain infrastructure challenges regarding business travel as the Hubballi has limited domestic flights and no international flight service, which is critical to attracting new clients for their operations. They also said that post-Covid-19 pandemic they will continue endeavours to get client commitments to staff projects our of Hubballi campus.
In the middle of 2022, nothing has changed on the ground, and Infosys announced of started its offices in other cities to move closer to the available talent pool.
Santosh Nargund, state lead of Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy said under the SEZ category they got tax concessions and exemptions for land to construct campus. Even after four years, they are not ready to start operations here and now announcing to set up offices in other cities. The Hubballi campus is lying unutilised, therefore they should think of making use of available resources to start its operation instead of setting up new offices in other cities, those offices also will be left unused.
Many north Karnataka region talents are working in Bengaluru, if the company starts operations in Hubballi, many employees will show interest to work here as the cost of living is comparatively less in Hubballi, said another activist.
Hubballi-Dharwad West constituency MLA Arvind Bellad has written a letter to the chief minister and industries minister to cancel the land that has been given to the Infosys. “They are not using the land for the given purpose, they are just making land in other cities for real estate business. Therefore I have written a letter to CM, industries minister and concerned departments to cancel the land,” he said.