Dhoot also met chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to discuss his projects. “The Chief Minister enquired about the employment prospects in these projects,” he said . The Chief Minister wanted to know whether Videocon was facing any problem in the operations of its two factories in Kolkata that assemble television and computer parts, said the chairman.
Dhoot said his group would invest Rs 6,000 crore in two knowledge parks to come up in Siliguri and Kalyani, Rs 500 crore in an IT Epecial Economic Zone (SEZ) in Siliguri, Rs 1,000 crore on an IT park in Kolkata and Rs 500 crore on a 20 mw solar power project in either Bankura or Purulia. The IT SEZ in Siliguri will house a voice-based BPO and will employ 500 people in the first phase.
He said Videocon has started acquiring the 4000 acres required for the steel plant. “We are waiting for allocation of coal blocks from the Centre. We will buy iron ore directly from our captive mines,” he added.