Bengaluru, Sep 17 Responding to the development of BlackBuck company planning to move out of the Outer Ring Road (ORR) area in Bengaluru over poor road infrastructure, the leaders of the Information Technology industry on Wednesday raised concerns and appealed to the Karnataka government to address the situation with proactive measures.
Padma Shree awardee Mohandas Pai and Biocon Founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw reacted on Wednesday to this development and in a social media post Pai tagged Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who is also Bengaluru Development Minister and expressed displeasure and appealed to him to find solutions to improve Bengaluru roads.
“Big, big failure of governance in Bengaluru. Please see, cos are moving out of ORR. Situation beyond hope. Please intervene,” said former Infosys CFO Pai.
Reposting Pai’s post, Mazumdar-Shaw said, “This is serious. Emergency measures needed to fix these issues.”
Rajesh Yabaji, Co-Founder and CEO of BlackBuck Company operating from the Bellandur ORR stretch in Bengaluru, expressing disappointment over the condition of the roads in the ORR stretch announced on Tuesday that his company will move out of the area. Yabaji, however, did not disclose where the office would be relocated.
Taking to X, Rajesh Yabaji stated, "ORR Bellandur has been our office and home for the last 9 years. But, now it has become very-very hard to continue here, We have decided to move out."
Providing the reason for his decision, he stated, "Background - average commute for my colleagues shot up to 1.5 hours for one way. Roads full of potholes and dust, coupled with lowest intent to get them rectified. Don't see any of this changing in next 5 years."
In his post lambasting the government over the development on Wednesday, Pai also tagged the Commissioner of Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Minister for IT and BT Priyank Kharge and BJP MP P.C. Mohan.
Speaking to the media on Wednesday, he stated, "On the stretch of ORR road, a 9.5 crore square feet campus has been built, and 8 lakh people work in companies located along this road. All the major global companies are situated here. Any government in the world would have taken measures to improve roads and provide adequate facilities for this important stretch. However, the state government is deliberately ignoring Bengaluru."
"I had met the Bengaluru Development Minister one-and-a-half months ago and submitted a list of works to be done in Bengaluru, to which he had agreed. I emphasised that the ORR stretch is important as lakhs of people work there. They have also spoken to stakeholders regarding this matter. However, only minor works are being taken up, and no proper planning has been done," Pai stated.
"The state government has a Rs 4 lakh crore budget, so why is this stretch of road still in poor condition? I appeal to Shivakumar to hold meetings with senior officials and obtain reports on a weekly basis. We need to give hope. Every day, people are spending hours stuck in traffic. Representatives from abroad are hesitant to come to Bengaluru and are instead moving to Noida and other places," he stated.
Dy CM Shivakumar responding on the poor condition of roads in Bengaluru, stated, "Deadline is given to fill potholes and submit a report to me in writing. Commissioners are instructed to share the information on their morning rounds in the city."
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