Bengaluru: Sarjapur set to be part of city's IT landscape

Bengaluru: On the lines of Electronics City and the International Tech Park of Whitefield, the state government is planning to develop an information technology (IT) hub in Sarjapur.

The Karnataka Industries Area Development Board (KIADB) has been entrusted with the task of acquiring 1,050 acres of land for the project. The development, however, runs contrary to the government’s plan to decongest the city.

The tech park will come up in Bikkanahalli, S Medahalli, Adigara Kallahalli, Sollepura, Murthanallur Amanikere and Handenahalli, which come under Sarjapur hobli of Anekal taluk. While the KIADB has nearly completed the process of acquiring around 647 acres of land spread across six villages, it will acquire an additional 401 acres in Hosahalli, for which preliminary notifications were issued earlier this month.

Officials hope to complete acquisition of land in the next six months. The compensation, they said, would be dispersed as per the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

“We will take physical custody of the land only after providing compensation. Most of the land is either agricultural or vacant,” the senior official said.

On the 1,050 acres, the government is planning to promote the start-up ecosystem, which is a unique selling point (USP) of Bengaluru.

MB Patil, Minister for Commerce and Industries, has been driving the project to attract young entrepreneurs to launch new ideas in five different sectors, including Artificial Intelligence, finance and technology. He is likely to unveil the plan ahead of Global Investors Meet (GIM), which is scheduled for February.

A senior KIADB official said the land-losers would be compensated by allotting the sites developed in various industrial parks, including Devanahalli and Doddaballapura. He said the board had earlier developed industrial parks in Bommasandra, Jigani, Attibele, Veerasandra, and Electronics City, but they have all run out of space.

Prashanth Prakash, a venture capitalist, said there is an increased demand for high quality infrastructure in the city and Sarjapur has become the preferred cluster.

“Karnataka has set a target of creating 100 new Global Capability Centres in the next decade. A tech park will be a good enabler to achieve the goal,” he said.

Many land-losers will, however, not be happy with the project. First, the compensation is generally not on time. Second, many farmers in Sarjapur grow mulberry (sericulture), vegetables, and commercial crops. Third, many people have made this area their home, being fed up with the city's chaotic ambience.