Delay in handing over of 13 acres allotted at Gambheeram for India’s first Centre for Electromagnetic Environmental Effects and the threat to back out by Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research (SAMEER), an institute under Department of Electronics & IT under Ministry of IT, may also affect three other Centre-sponsored research facilities proposed in the city.
Sources told The Hindu that the officials of MoIT were upset over cold response by APIIC in sorting out the issue with regard to handing over possession of the land at Gambheeram to SAMEER. According to indications, the development might adversely affect the other Centrally-funded projects for which in-principle nod has been given by the Ministry of IT.
The projects include Standardisation Testing & Quality Certification (STQC), Directorate of Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and National Institute of Electronics and IT (NILET). Electronic Manufacturing Cluster, for which Rs.50 crore has been sanctioned, may not materialise if SAMEER project is shelved.
The Centre has also sanctioned Rs.20 crore for setting up of an incubation centre by Software Technology Parks of India. The amount has remained unspent for three years as the authorities have failed to allot a suitable land in the city.
Appeal to Naidu“If such treatment is meted out to Central government’s institutes, what is the plight of private investors one could imagine? We appeal to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to intervene and come forward with a policy to offer land free of cost to government institutes particularly for promotion of R&D,” Vizag Development Council vice-president and CEO of Symbiosys Technologies O. Naresh Kumar said. He said all these projects were required to make Vizag the IT capital of Andhra Pradesh.
