Work on the Tidel Park in Coimbatore was expected to be completed by the end of December 2008, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi told the State Assembly on Tuesday. The foundation stone for the park was laid on February 24, 2007.
Answering questions in the State Assembly, he said, in all 61.59 acres of land has been identified in the medical college campus at Vilankurichi village, Coimbatore and transferred to Elcot for setting up the IT park. The Centre has granted special economic zone status for the park.
The Chief Minister said that in the park, land has been allotted to Wipro (10 acres) and TCS (5 acres). ?Land will be allotted to some more companies,?? he said. The remaining land would form the SEZ where residential and social infrastructure would be built in addition to the IT complexes to make it an integrated township, he said. Answering another question, the Chief Minister said steps are under way to develop an IT Park in Vellore district also.
Arrangements are also being made to supply adequate fertilisers to the farmers from domestic fertiliser manufacturing companies and through imports, agriculture minister Veerapandi S Arumugam said in the State Assembly. He said Tamil Nadu needs 17 lakh to 20 lakh tonne of urea, DAP, potash and complex fertilisers a year. For the Kharif 2008, the requirement of fertilisers for various crops were, urea 4.35 lakh tonne, DAP 2 lakh tonne, and potash 2.10 lakh tonne.
During 2007-08, there was shortage of DAP in the Indian and international market owing to steep rise in the prices of phosphoric acid. However, the State government through Tanfed purchased 1.04 lakh tonne of DAP and distributed it through primary co-operative banks to the farmers, the minister said. Tanfed was given Rs 30 crore for this. Tanfed made available DAP at the fixed price of Rs 486 for 50 kg bag, the minister said
Since there was no change in the situation during this fiscal also, Tanfed was entrusted with Rs 50 crore to ensure uninterrupted supply of DAP to the farmers. Fertiliser and dealers were also asked to sell their entire stock to Tanfed. Fertiliser supplies were ensured for October and up to December from the factories and through imports, he added.