Infosys to fund mid day meal for Kandhamal Dist

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BHUBANESWAR: IT major Infosys today said it would invest Rs 500 crore in Orissa for setting up an SEZ in IT and ITeS sectors and take care of children's mid-day-meal scheme and healthcare services. "We have proposed to set up an IT SEZ in Bhubaneswar. The project will require 50 acres of land", T V Mohandas Pai, Director HR, ER and administration and member of board of Infosys, told reporters here. Pai who along with prominent cardiac surgeon Dr Devi Shetty and employment planner Manish Agarwal, met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here, said they made a presentation before the government outlining their development plan for IT sector and allied service in the state. Pai who had been funding mid-day meal for 10,000 school children in Nayagarh district, also agreed to extend the programme to Gajapati and Kandhamal districts, official sources said. Besides, 30,000 children in Puri district were also getting midday meal in Puri district. "We have been spending Rs 6.50 per child to provide quality food," Pai said pointing out that Infosys had spent Rs 5.5 crore towards its corporate social responsibility. Shetty, who had been providing health care service to BPO staff, urged Patnaik to allot five-seven acres of land in the city for setting up a 1,000-bed heart hospital. As the city was gradually becoming a IT hub of Eastern India with almost all major players opening their development centres, employees required quality heath service, Shetty said. "We have also requestedthe state government to help Shetty set up a heart hospital here", Pai told reporters.