The Bengali weekly mouthpiece of Trinamool Congress “Sangrami Ma, Mati and Manus” in its current issue has strongly pleaded in favour of SEZ in the IT sector. If the status is granted, thousands of youth in the state will get jobs in IT and ITEs. This is for the first time when the matter has been discussed to such an extent in the party’s organ.
It should be mentioned that the two tech giants — Infosys and Wipro — have paid Rs 75 crore each to the West Bengal Housing and Development Corporation (WBHIDCO) for 100 acre of land in New Town in December last year. Both the companies are waiting for the clearance from the state government which will not only allow them to set up their IT parks but will also invite many more such firms who are trying their luck in neighbouring states to come to West Bengal and set up their establishments here.
Pleading in favour of SEZ, the mouthpiece has said that this would not only open job opportunities for the youth, the state’s VAT collection in 2017-18 Budget would go up too and the socio-economic condition of the area will improve manifold as well. It has further stated that the IT firms take the corporate social responsibility very seriously which has helped children from economically challenged backgrounds to get education. An employee of Infosys has taken one year leave from the company to teach children of a school in Kharagpur.
The firm has not only given paid leaves to the employee but has also sanctioned money to improve the infrastructure of the school.The Left parties have branded SEZ as special exploitation zone and give the reference of SEZ in the manufacturing industry.
As the Industrial Disputes Act does not apply to the SEZ, the companies have a tendency to exploit the worker by making them work for more hours. It can be recalled that CPI(M) had opened a union in Sector V under the leadership of Shyamal Chakraborty. However, it had received tepid response from the employees.
The IT firms want SEZ because of tax benefits from the Centre. The employees not only get more salaries but get two-day weekly offs and ample scope to go abroad.It may be mentioned that a team of industrialists from the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) met the state IT minister Bratya Basu on June 7 and urged him to grant SEZ status to the IT industry.