Three days after West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee asked his party and cabinet colleagues to ensure that investment plans by IT majors do not suffer, the state Information and Technology department today announced the scrapping of the joint sector IT park project in Rajarhat, Newtown with Infosys, Wipro, TCS, IBM and other leading firms.

The decision was made formal in a five-page press release posted on the department’s website. CPM sources said IT Minister Debesh Das took sanction of party bosses before posting the announcement.

T V Mohandas Pai, member of the Infosys Board who was looking after the proposed investment in West Bengal, told The Indian Express over phone from London that the project in the state was “not on hold, it may be over.”

Asked if he was going to discuss the announcement with the state government, Mohandas Pai said: “What is there to talk? Chances are that we may have to go back from this project... What is happening in West Bengal is really sad... What has happened is bad for the IT industry. It is bad for young people. Shelving the project means there will be less jobs in Kolkata. It is sad for students, many parents will be sad to hear the decision.”

Last Friday, Bhattacharjee, concerned over the possible exit of Wipro and Infosys from the proposed IT township in Rajarhat, summoned Das and told him to work out a Plan B. The two companies, Bhattacharjee told his colleague, would have to be retained at any cost for maintaining Bengal’s prospects in the IT sector.

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