Kolhapur: Pune divisional commissioner Chandrakant Pulkundwar has asked the Solapur district administration to transfer five acres of land from the city’s Hotagi Road area to the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) to develop an Information Technology Park, Solapur guardian minister Jaykumar Gore said on Monday.Ahead of the local body elections, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had asked district collector Kumar Ashirwad to find a suitable location to set up the IT Park. Fadnavis had said that most of the employees working in Pune are from Solapur, and if an IT Park is set up locally, then there would be no need for Solapur’s youth to shift to Pune, or any other place, for work.
Following the directions, a few sites were screened, and one at Hotagi Road, which is nearest to the airport, was finalised. A high power committee has already given its nod.“The divisional commissioner has ordered the administration to transfer around 20 hectares in Hotagi Road to MIDC. After the transfer, the work to set up the IT Park will gain speed. People of Solapur have showered blessings on the chief minister in the form of votes in the recently held elections, and the CM has lived up to his words,” Gore said.Officials said the land is currently with the Water Resources Department and was earlier marked for developing a logistics park.Ashirwad sent teams to study IT Park models at various places, prominently Indore. He said that to attract IT companies, the plan is to provide power supply at cheaper rates from the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC). The construction of the proposed facility will cost Rs 40 crore. The facility will generate the jobs for 40,000 odd software engineers, a senior official said.
