PANAJI: The government might have had ambitious plans for promotion of information technology industry in the state but the facts remained that none of the IT company worth name has come to the state over the past five years, offering no job opportunities to the 800-odd IT graduate who pass out from the three technical colleges in the state, every year.

The government decisions in the past five years to promote IT companies to come to the state have failed to materialise in view of agitations against the government decisions by locals from the places where they were proposed to be located and failure of the government to give IT firms “attractive” offers. The IT Habitat at Dona Paula and the IT Park at Socorro could not be started due to public agitation against them.
Though, according to the IT department website, nine companies have been listed to have registered since 2005, enquiries by The Navhind Times with the officials revealed that some of these companies were started in late 1990s and before 2005. Some units were operated in some other names and were taken over by new managements in 2005 and registered a fresh in 2005.
The former president of Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mr Nitin Kunkolienkar, who is also linked to IT industry, said that no new IT industry has come to Goa over the years and that government should promote IT industry at least to provide employment opportunities to hundreds of IT graduates who pass out every year from the state.
He also said that failure to bring in IT industry to the state has resulted in thousands of IT graduates, who have passed out from Goa University, to migrate to other states for employment. He said that according to a rough estimate at least 2,500 IT graduates from Goa were working in other states.
Mr Kunkolienkar also said that those who have preferred to stay in Goa despite not being able to find suitable position befitting their qualifications were getting salaries that were as low as Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000. These salaries, he described, were lower than that of a class IV employee of the state government adding that even the coolies were earning more that these qualified people.
The IT director, Mr Pravin R Chandekar admitted that no new companies have come to the state over the past five years. Asked to explain why the IT firms have kept off Goa, he said perhaps they did not get “attractive offers” from the state.
Mr Chandekar went on to explain the reason behind IT industries giving a miss to the state by saying that the IT companies have been demanding free land to set up their bases in various states of the country and in bigger states like Karnataka and Gujarat they have been given huge plots of land.
“Unfortunately Goa does not huge chunks of land and as such the government cannot offer free land to IT companies,” he said adding that perhaps that was the reason behind their decision not to come to Goa. The state could offer them communidade land but that could not be given free and the companies have to pay price for getting the land, he added.
Asked to comment of the “meager” salaries paid to these professional, Mr Chandekar said that many IT firms have taken advantage of global recession and retrenched senior officials in their units. The juniors, who have joined to fill up the vacancies, have been offered salaries that were much lower, he added.