STP building handed over to State Government

STP building handed over to State Government
The Hindu

HUBLI: The much-awaited transfer of the ownership of the commercial complex, purchased from the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation, to the State Government for housing the Software Technology Park took place on Friday, with the State Government handing over the dues to the corporation to receive the necessary papers.

M.K. Shankarlinge Gowda, Secretary, Department of Information Technology and Biotechnology, handed over a draft for Rs. 10.43 crores to Commissioner of the corporation P. Manivannan at a function held in the STP complex. It was on November 8, 1999 that the State Government decided to purchase the commercial complex built by the corporation for a sum of Rs. 23 crores through the KEONICS, a State Government undertaking.

While a token amount of Rs. 1 crore was handed over, the Government also assumed the loan burden of Rs. 11.57 crores from the corporation, which the latter had taken from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation. But the payment of the remaining sum to the corporation proved to be a matter of controversy with lot of issues being raised and the matter got postponed under one pretext or the other, leaving the issue of the ownership of the complex uncertain.

The KEONICS was unable to exercise its authority as the owner in the absence of the ownership and this came in the way of developing facilities at the complex. The matter was ultimately resolved in August this year and the government decided to pay the arrears.