Development push: Soon, link road to connect Sector V & VI

The State government will set up a Link Road to connect two information technology hubs – Sector-V at Salt Lake and Sector-VI at Bantala.

The work for the 7.5 km-long link road will be supervised by the experts from Jadavpur University and the work is expected to be initiated soon.

It may be mentioned that the work of the building infrastructure at Bantala is already underway by the state government. The long-standing issues of toxic wastes, water treatment and stench from the tanneries would be solved after completion of the work.

Information Technology major Cognizant has already commenced operations on a 20-acre plot after having raised the issue of toxic wastes with the authority and decided to expand its operations in Bantala. The company targeted to house around 16,000 professionals there.

Tech Mahindra earlier agreed to resume the construction of its proposed campus there, following measures taken by the developer to restrict pollution from the adjoining leather tanneries. The company had stalled construction five years back on the 12 acre land at Bantala over pollution issues.

Bantala Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which was named as 'Sector-VI' comes under Sector-VI Industrial Township Authority. The state Cabinet came up with that name in 2014. But this year, the state Urban Development department decided to connect two sectors with the direct road for helping out the growing

IT industry.

"Sector-VI is the new IT destination in the state. A link road to connect Sector-V to VI was long needed for better communication as Cognizant has already set up a campus there and some other companies would come up as well," said the minister.

"Good road connectivity is required as the IT professionals need to reach from one sector to the other. There is almost 100 acre space in Bantala and IT firms have requested the state government to separate the areas which would be used by them and the tanneries," a source at the state secretariat informed.

However, the state government conducted a series of meetings to expedite the canal segregation work and sewerage treatment plants at Sector-VI.