God Save Bangalore!

God Save Bangalore!

Bangalore may be India’s Sillicon Valley but the traffic situation needs much to be desired.

With unbridled growth of IT & ITES companies, Bangalore has become home to thousands of IT & BPO workers many from other states. This influx has put pressure on resources - housing & traffic.

Traffic jams are very common in Old Madras Road (the route to ITPL), Sarjapur Road, Hosur Road, Electronics City, Airport Road, etc. Daily more than 27000 cabs criss-cross the city to ferry IT & BPO workers. People are sick & tired of commuting daily by getting stuck up in traffic. Even a 5 km distance takes about 30 mins and at times 45 mins. Besides, the roads are bad with potholes. The result is increasing pollution - air & noise, frequent traffic jams, increased commute time, frayed tempers, rising fuel bill, repairs to vehicles (thanks to road conditions).

Another problem is housing. The prices of real estate has sky rocketed. Rents are exhorbitant. Most of the houses/flats aren’t worth the rent they command. Hyderabad & Chennai are much cheaper in housing. Soon this city will be affordable only by the IT workers & there will be no place for non-IT employees who just can’t match the pay of the former. It’s a sad story of how development has brought in its wake peculiar problems on traffic & housing.

With the Govt & IT sector playing cat & mouse game, there seems to be no solution in sight in the near future. Only God has to save Bangalore.

Today Bangalore is no longer a pensioner’s paradise. It’s an example of what a city should not be. Will other IT hub cities go the Bangalore way? Others need to upgrade their infrastructure significantly if they want to avoid becoming another Bangalore.

Is Chennai & Hyderabad listening? And God save Bangalore!