BENGALURU: Days after BT major Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw put up a series of social media posts about crumbling infrastructure in the city and flooding in the IT corridor, a delegation led by Deputy Chief Minister (DCM) and Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar met her at her residence on Wednesday evening and discussed the city’s pressing issues.
The delegation had various bureaucrats, including Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath, BDA Commissioner N Jayaram, DCM’s secretary Rajendra Cholan, besides Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan, Prashant Prakash from Unboxing Bengaluru, architect Naresh Narasimhan and others.
According to an official who was part of the delegation, the meeting was not just a courtesy meeting for Deepavali. “It was brainstorming exercise with an aim to fix Bengaluru’s road infrastructure, especially in the IT corridor from Hebbal Outer Ring Road, KR Puram, Mahadevapura, Whitefield, Marathahalli Outer Ring Road, Sarjapura, Bommanahalli and Electronics City.”
An urban expert who was present at the meeting, stated that apart from road infrastructure, issues like better drainage system, garbage management, protection of water bodies and its improvement were also part of the discussion, and the DCM sought corporates’ help in improving the city infrastructure and its image.
Following the meeting, the DCM stated that it was a productive meeting with discussions on Bengaluru’s pressing issues with key stakeholders, and thanked the participants for sharing their insights. “I am sure that our collaborative efforts will drive Bengaluru’s growth and progress,” he added.
Shaw reciprocated via her social media handle with, “Thank you for engaging us and assuring us of supporting key projects that will solve the infra challenges of roads, sewage and garbage. Together we will build a world class city and your leadership will realise this aspirational vision.”
Shaw’s back-to-back posts on October 25 morning on damaged roads in Bommanahalli, following heavy rain, went viral. The Biocon chief seemed upset with the IT capital’s road infrastructure due to potholes and hours-long traffic jams during rain due to a bad drainage system.
She had also stated that ELCITA (Electronics City Industrial Township Authority) uses RoadMetrics, an AI tool, to scan roads every fortnight for defects. This data allows them to fix issues quickly before they worsen, she stated, recommending that “ELCITA ought to be given a contract to fix city’s roads, not BBMP contractors”.