Bengal govt upbeat on new IT parks

Bengal government on Thursday said it remained optimistic on seven new IT parks in the state despite job loss threat looming on technology companies over H1-B visa crisis.

"We have 13 IT parks currently and we are going forward with seven new parks," state IT minister Bratya Basu said at a seminar organised by Bengal National Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BNCCI).

Basu said that if the latest round of auction for Sonarpur hardware park failed, the IT ministry would try to reduce the price of land.

The crisis of H1-B visa was not yet felt in the state and no major IT companies in the state had approached the government on retrenchment, he added. The minister also claimed that the temporary suspension of premium H1-B visa processing by the US administration would have a lesser impact on his state compared to other Indian states. "I think Bengal would have far lesser impact after the H1-B visa ban compared to some other Indian states which have a larger number of IT professionals working in the United States under various organisations," Basu said at an event on information technology in the city. Stating that the state government does not have much knowledge about the Trump administration's executive order on banning the visa, the minister said it would stand by its people who are working abroad.

"The state government cannot do much about the foreign immigration rules. However, the state administration, would do the needful for our people working abroad in various IT companies," he said.

Basu also said they haven't received any information about lay-offs in the IT giants operating in the state after the visa ban decision in April.