Unhappy with the poor infrastructure support for Hinjewadi, which predominantly has many leading information technology firms, the Hinjewadi Industries Association (HIA) will launch a three-month campaign to demand better facilities.
Unhappy with the poor infrastructure support for Hinjewadi, which predominantly has many leading information technology firms, the Hinjewadi Industries Association (HIA) will launch a three-month campaign to demand better facilities.
Under its ‘Hinjewadi First’ initiative, HIA will demand that the industrial locality be declared a ‘business district’ and the state government appoint a dedicated authority to plan and oversee the holistic development of the area for the growth of the IT sector in Pune.
HIA is a forum of about 37 infotech, IT-enabled services and manufacturing firms based in Hinjewadi.
On Friday evening, the staff of many prominent IT firms — including Infosys, Cognizant and Persistent Systems — from the Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park (RGIP) gathered on the roads, holding banners and demanding better roads, traffic management and enhanced power supply, among other facilities.
“This initiative is a big one. Unless steps are initiated to improve things in Hinjewadi, the industrial area would be choked,” warned HIA’s president, Mritunjay Singh, who is associate vice-president (Pune) of Infosys Technologies.
Singh was speaking at a press conference where other HIA office-bearers such as vice-president Unmesh Bhathija and treasurer Kedar Paranjape were present.
According to HIA, within the next two to three years, software exports from Hinjewadi would rise to $8 billion from the present $4 billion, which amounts to 40% of the state’s total software exports.
The number of IT employees in Hinjewadi is expected to double from the present 70,000. This would be apart from new companies setting base in Hinjewadi and existing ones expanding.
In view of this growth, Singh said, the government must make an integrated development plan to boost the infrastructure in Hinjewadi. He lamented that the existing infrastructure is extremely poor and there is just one main road to the industrial area.
“There is a bridge on the main road that literally shakes when vehicles move on it. More than 30,000 cars and thousands of two wheelers, city buses, autorickshaws and other vehicles cross that bridge every day,” he said.
According to the association, there are several government agencies, Pune police, the district administration and the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporations that it has to approach to get various works done.
“We need a separate authority that would coordinate and oversee all development activities in Hinjewadi. Hence, we want that Hinjewadi be declared a business district,” Singh said.
The association members have met deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and other authorities in the state government to highlight their problems. HIA has decided to organise seminars involving CEOs and COOs of different companies based in Hinjewadi, conduct a survey in local villages to gather feedback about their problems and invite suggestions.
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