A senior official of an IT major said: "We don't know how the Rungtas bagged the land. Even if they set up an IT park there, it would only be a real-estate venture riding piggyback on the IT tag."

Sources in the state IT department said the model to be followed to recover money from the IT park coming up here would be different.

"The realtor can make money by renting out the facilities to establishments that may not necessarily be software companies. But the land in question should have definitely gone to an IT company. Even if the land is given to a realtor, an expression of interest should have been declared followed by a tender," said an official.

The government, however, justified the deal. State IT secretary Siddharth said: "We went ahead and gave this land to this particular group because some small and medium-sized IT companies have backed out of projects and land that had been earmarked for them are lying vacant. We just wanted the land to be used."

He pointed out that 20% of the land would be reserved for IT companies. "We had given companies land in Bantala, but they failed to go ahead with the projects. By giving the land to an IT infrastructure-developer, we have ensured that many players can come together under a single roof."

Santosh Kumar Rungta of Rungta Group said: "We have to work very hard to make this project a success as it will be a tall task to get IT companies to come here."