Make Software Technology Park functional: MP Gurjeet Aujla
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, August 8
Member of Parliament Gurjeet Singh Aujla has raised the demand for commencing work on developing a Software Technology Park in Amritsar, which has been lying suspended since 2022. He demanded that the Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology should give a date for its start. To make Amritsar an IT hub, the park should be developed at the earliest, he said.
Aujla said in Parliament that the Software Technology Park was to be set up in Amritsar on the initiative of Minister for Information and Technology, Punjab and the Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India. In 2022, an area of 2.72 acres was developed for the establishment of STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) facilities and an incubation centre. But the project is in limbo ever since.
“Central Asian countries are a big upcoming market for IT and software and due to its proximity and facilities, Amritsar can become an excellent software exporter,” he stressed.
He said that according to Union Minister Jitin Prasad, if the already built IT hubs have become busy cities, then Amritsar is capable of becoming an IT hub in every possible way. He said that a Software Technology Park (STP) has been built on Mehta Road in Amritsar, which is just waiting to become functional. “Hundreds of children from Amritsar go to cities like Mohali and Bengaluru to work in IT sector. But if there is an IT hub in their own city, then the border area will also develop and the youth will not have to go out for jobs.”
Replying to Aujla, Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasad said that Amritsar is on the priority list of the government. “Export is already happening there. Till date, 57 out of 65 Software Technology Parks are in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.”
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnavi also said that the Software Technology Park of Amritsar is ready and will be made functional soon.
2.72 acres was developed for park
Aujla said in Parliament that the Software Technology Park was to be set up in Amritsar on the initiative of Minister for Information and Technology, Punjab and the Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India. In 2022, an area of 2.72 acres was developed for the establishment of STPI (Software Technology Parks of India) facilities and an incubation centre. But the project is in limbo ever since.
