"The land is in the possession of Rajasthan Housing Board (RHB). The government is transferring this land to Jaipur Development Authority, which in return would handover 100 acres of land to RHB. We strongly oppose the land allotment as RHB was not informed about this deal. Moreover, land for commercial activities cannot be allotted at concessional rates," said RHB union leader Girindra Mishra.

The decision has also enraged residents of the area who are fearing displacement following the allotment. "Around 300 houses and shops are here in this area, having been built after getting due approval from the state government. Now the same government is trying to raze our houses. We will not let this happen. We will fight for our right," said colony development society president Arjun Singh Sisodiya.

The state government, however, is tight lipped about the issue. Secretary of BIDI & Urban Development and Housing (UDH) Parwinder Singh Panwar said there is nothing new about this allotment. "Allotments at concessional rates have been done in the past also. I will not comment on it now," he said.

ICICI's northern hub plan at Jaipur was conceived as a result of the Rajasthan government's invitation at the investment summit--Resurgent Rajasthan--which was held in December 2007. In the summit ICICI CMD K V Kamath had announced that the bank would set up its northern regional hub for back office operations at Jaipur. The other three regional hubs would come up at Hyderabad, Gandhi Nagar and Bhubaneshwar.

Mr Kamath had said the bank expected to invest Rs 500 crore in a phased manner in the Jaipur hub. "It would provide direct employment to around 5000 people which could be scaled up to 1000 over a period of time. Beneficiaries would include people involved in a range of technology enabled financial services and functions. In addition to the direct employment, we expect the hub to create significant amount of indirect employment as well," he had said.