Kolkata: West Bengal Finance and IT Minister Amit Mitra said on Wednesday that 3,000 information technology professionals, who have returned to the state from other parts of the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have been given job offers through the ‘Karmo Bhumi’ initiative.
The job portal, launched on June 8, witnessed around 37,000 registrations, while more than 24,000 have been processed, he said.
‘Karmo Bhumi‘ is an initiative of the state government to collaborate between job seekers and employers in the IT and ITeS sector.
“It was launched as a skill registration platform for those who have returned to West Bengal from other states on account of the pandemic.
“So far, 3,000 IT professionals have been selected for jobs under the scheme within three months from its launch,” Mitra said addressing a webinar organized by CII.
He also urged the industry to take up space in the IT parks in tier-2 and tier-3 cities in the state.
“Small towns and cities were neglected in the past so the state government has set up 17 IT parks in these areas such as Siliguri, Kalyani, and Durgapur. Five more such parks are in the process of completion.
“The idea is to bridge the digital divide and many renowned companies like Essar Information Technology have taken up space in one of them,” Mitra said.
Speaking on the proposed Silicon Valley hub in New Town, Mitra said Reliance had taken up 40 acres of land for setting up a data center for Jio.
TCS, which has already employed 45,000 IT professionals in the state, has taken another 20 acres of land in the hub to create an additional 15,000 jobs, he said.
Mitra said this would be the IT giant’s biggest center in terms of job creation in the country.
Reliance was given land in Digha in East Midnapore district for bringing an undersea cable from Singapore which will greatly benefit not only Jio but also IT companies operating in the state, he said.
“Another big IT company is coming up with a data center in the state,” Mitra said without divulging the details of the project.
He said the state government has also collaborated with Japan’s Fujisoft to provide training in 3D designing to professionals of the MSME sector, for which it made an expenditure of Rs 34 crore.
He also said a cybersecurity center of excellence was set up, where more than 471 police personnel have been trained in the first round.