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Journalism of Courage
Bengaluru’s problem of potholed roads was thrown into the spotlight again on Tuesday when Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar Shaw shared a question from a foreign guest that no Indian wants to hear. It was not just Bengaluru roads, but undisposed garbage as well that caught the attention of the Chinese visitor that Mazumdar Shaw was hosting.
She posted on X: “I had an overseas business visitor to Biocon Park who said ‘Why are the roads so bad and why is there so much garbage around? Doesn’t the Govt want to support investment? I have just come from China and cant understand why India can’t get its act together especially when the winds are favourable?'”
Apart from the traffic, Bengaluru roads, too, are infamous for their potholes, along with those of Mumbai.
Replying to her post, senior vice-president of Reliance Industries Vaibhav Goel said: “The core premise of democracy that voting periodically would lead to best form accountability, has proven to be a myth. The individual greed, is more powerful than collective responsibility in society. And the round robin election game, makes it worse.”
CEO of Ela Capital Vijay Sappani said: “India should never be compared to China, they are decades ahead. When it comes civic sense, even Sri Lanka, Bhutan , Nepal are far ahead. Sadly this is the state of affairs in every city in India. Poor infrastructure, civic sense. Needs a massive education, equipment and enforcement drive. I see in Chennai, there are tons of dustbins, but ppl still litter all over the beach. That’s not a lack of resources; they need to be fined and whipped and most of them college students and professionals.”
Director at PSRI Hospital (Metabolic & Bariartric Surgery) Dr Sumeet Shah said poor infrastructure was hampering India’s progress. “All talk of GDP becomes zero when there are broken roads, poor lighting of streets, garbage dumps, waterlogging, stray animals, absent pavements and more,” he said.
While replying to a post on Bengaluru roads on Monday, she had questioned the political will to actually get the Bengaluru roads fixed. She said: “I also am puzzled about why the political leadership is not showing the political urgency to fix our city and make it world class. It doesn’t take more than a focus in terms of budgetary allocation n execution. A billion dollars needs to be ring-fenced to do this.”
Bengaluru’s potholed roads and serpentine vehicles stuck in traffic jams are infamous across India. Residents of the IT hub have constantly borne the brunt of saturated vehicle population on the roads.
In July, while detailing a meeting with Union Minister Rajnath Singh, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had posted on X: “As someone who has seen Bengaluru grow over the decades, I understand the daily challenges our people face — traffic congestion, long commutes, and mounting public demand for better connectivity. He said that he had requested “timely approval for key Defence land transfers to enable major projects: the Metro Phase-3 double-decker flyover at Goraguntepalya, the Hebbal–Silk Board Twin Tunnel, and important link roads near Hebbal”.
In September, the CM reportedly pulled up a top civic official for failing to maintain the Bengaluru roads and the growing number of potholes.
