Wipro told to live up to promise on jobs

Four MLAs visit Wipro campus in the heart of the city. The 680 jobs provided so far fell much below the agreement, BJP floor leader P. Vishnu Kumar Raju, who is also the President of Rishikonda IT Park Association said.

BJP floor leader P. Vishnu Kumar Raju, MLAs Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy, Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar and Palla Srinivasa Rao being received by Vijay Agarwal, General Mangaer, during their visit to Wipro campus at Visakhapatnam on Tuesday. Photo: C. V. Subrahmanyam

Four MLAs on Tuesday made a visit to the Wipro campus in the heart of the city and wanted it to live up to its promise of providing 2,000 jobs. They went to Tech Mahindra campus across the road and said since it has kept up the agreement should set its sights higher.

The visit was intended to find out what was hampering an IT giant like Wipro not being able to provide the jobs stipulated as per the agreement by 2013, in seven years of it being allotted prime land, they said.

The 680 jobs provided so far fell much below the agreement, BJP floor leader P. Vishnu Kumar Raju, who is also the President of Rishikonda IT Park Association said. Those from other States were welcome but locals also should get jobs, he said. The APIIC had already given two notices in 2013 for handing over the remaining four acres of land for not creating the stipulated jobs.

Former minister and Pendurti MLA Bandaru Satyanarayana Murthy said even the Chief Minister was not satisfied about the employment potential not being realised. They want to know what the hurdles were and report back to the Chief Minister. Visakhapatnam South MLA Vasupalli Ganesh Kumar said in the undivided State Hyderabad cornered jobs and if Visakhapatnam was deprived again they would not keep quiet.

Infrastructure

Gajuwaka MLA Palla Srinivasa Rao said unlike some other companies Wipro had created infrastructure and could accommodate 2,000 for single shift.

Wipro General Manager Vijay Agarwal said the model of business selected by the company would allow scaling up recruiting up to 7,000 people in five years only if an SEZ status was given. Wipro Chairman Azim Premji had already met the Chief Minister for grant of SEZ facility and the latter agreed. There was no dearth of talent in Andhra Pradesh and once SEZ status was given many employees would return to find their roots.

Expansion

At Tech Mahindra, Location Head Viswanatham Kandukuri said in Phase I of the 85 per cent of the jobs were given to locals. With the expansion in second phase, by the end of January 2015, the capacity would go up to 3,000 and 80 per cent of jobs would go to locals.

The company launched Campus Connect to improve soft skills and off-campus interviews to improve intake of older batches.

Mr. Raju said the company should expand to create more jobs and turn into the IT icon of Andhra Pradesh.