IT park hits boundary, adds acres

CHANDIGARH: Information technology knows no boundaries. It turned out to be literally true when Chandigarh Technology Park (CTP), better known as IT park, added 12 more acres of land which Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) had been laying claim to. The dispute between HUDA and UT administration has been amicably settled after it was agreed that the land, which lies on the UT-Haryana border along the CTP, belonged to UT.Sanjay Tyagi, Director STPI (Mohali), said, "The disputed land actually belongs to the UT but due to the problem of demarcation along the boundary, HUDA authorities were claiming it was theirs. But now the problem has been sorted out and the land will be available for CTP." Sajal B Verma, chief town planner of HUDA, said that the land was disputed for long but now some land has gone to UT while some still remained with HUDA. Initially, Chandigarh Technology Park (CTP) was being developed on 111 acres comprising large anchor plots, sub-anchor plots, built-to-suit sites and ready-built space. Now with another 12 acres of land, there will be more room for IT players. Vivek Atray, Director IT, Chandigarh, said,"Following abrupt changes, the revised plan is with the finance department from where it would be back to the drawing boards for the city planners as they must also include these 12 acres in the prime built-up space. The proposed auction of the sites remains deferred for the time being. Once the CTP plan passes through the procedural level, the Estate Office will call for auction." Earlier, Infosys occupied about 15 acres of land and the remaining five acres was earmarked for prime built-in-space in the IT Park. So the UT administration were trying to dispose of the five sites that approximately ranged from 1.25 to 1.5 acres each.