Desperate to woo investments in the IT sector the West Bengal IT Minister, Mr Partha Chatterjee, on Friday urged IT companies “like Cognizant” to shift their focus on operations not just from the State capital – and only metro in the State – but also from tier-II towns.

The minister promised a different roll-out of red carpet in terms of infrastructure and facilities.

Making an all out effort to showcase the State as an attractive IT destination, the Minister maintained that if required the Government was ready to take ‘on the spot' decisions.

The Minister was speaking at the ground breaking ceremony to mark the construction of the second phase of IT major Cognizant's Bantala campus.

“I have seen that people travel for nearly two hours between campuses in Bangalore. I would urge companies like Cognizant to look for options in areas like Kalyani which is just an hour's drive from Kolkata airport,” Mr Chatterjee said pitching for tier-II towns as probable IT hubs.

According to him, the State Government has mooted for 13 new IT hubs across towns such as Siliguri, Kalyani, Asansol, Durgapur and Haldia.