Karunanidhi keen to give boost to IT sector

Bangalore, June 15 (UNI) Keen on ushering in an Information Technology revolution in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today announced that his Government will soon formulate a comprehensive IT policy and promote tier-II and tier-III cities.

Talking to newspersons after visiting the facilities of IT majors Wipro and Infosys here, he said the policy would involve setting up of a task force and addressing infrastructural issues. Besides, the Government would promote tier-II and tier-III cities like Hosur, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli and Tirunelveli to attract more investments, especially from the IT sector.

Stressing that his Government would remove all bottlenecks and build necessary infrastructure to attract investments, Mr Karunanidhi said ''the IT sector in Tamil Nadu will be developed similar to that of Karnataka or even better...We (his Government) are only a few days old...We will make all efforts.'' Scouting for more investments in his State from the IT bellwethers, he said he had come to Bangalore to personally visit the IT industries and see what they required to set shop in Tamil Nadu.

Asked whether Hosur was on his mind for being promoted as a major IT destination, Mr Karunanidhi tersely replied that ''it is in my mind and it is in my State.'' Regarding the recent abortive attack on his son and Minister M K Stalin, he said ''it is common in politics...you have to expect such things.'' The Chief Minister was accompanied by Union IT and Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran and a seven-member official delegation.

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