Bengaluru's Electronics City to be named after Devaraj Urs: CM Siddaramaiah

Electronics City Metro station on Hosur Road

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah on August 20 said that Bengaluru’s tech hub Electronics City, will be renamed after former Chief Minister D Devaraj Urs.

The announcement was made during the 109th birth anniversary celebration of Devaraj Urs at Vidhana Soudha.

The Electronics City project was the brainchild of RK Baliga, the first chairman and Managing Director of Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Keonics). Baliga envisioned transforming Bengaluru into the ‘Silicon Valley of India,’ a vision supported by Devaraj Urs, who appointed him as the head of Keonics in 1976.

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Devaraj Urs laid the foundation stone for Electronics City, which was established in 1978 on 332 acres in the villages of Konappana Agrahara and Doddathogur on Bengaluru-Hosur Road. In 1997, the maintenance of the Electronics City campus was handed over to the Electronics City Industries Association (ELCIA). In 2013, the Karnataka government declared Electronics City an industrial township area under the Karnataka Municipalities Act.

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According to the Electronics City Industrial Township Authority (ELCITA), Electronics City now spans 903 acres on the outskirts of Bengaluru and is one of India’s largest electronics industrial parks. It houses a mix of small, medium, and large companies in various sectors such as IT/ITeS, electronics, hardware, design, and manufacturing. Companies like Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra, Siemens, Hewlett-Packard, and Tata Consultancy Services have established a significant presence in the area. ELCITA manages the industrial area, taking charge of road maintenance, water supply, street lighting, sewage and waste disposal, transportation facilities, as well as safety and security.

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During the event, Siddaramaiah said the importance of building an equitable society by eliminating poverty and the caste system. He praised Devaraj Urs for his efforts to uplift the underprivileged, including dalits, backward classes, minorities, and women. "Urs was also credited with renaming the state as Karnataka in 1973, a significant move following the unification of the state in 1956. The year-long celebration of Karnataka's renaming will conclude with an event in November, during which a statue of Kannada Bhuvaneshwari will be unveiled at Vidhana Soudha,” the CM said.