Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Wednesday denied media reports claiming that she has offered to repair roads in Bengaluru, hours after Congress leader P Chidambaram welcomed the purported move.
"The media have fabricated this news. I have never offered to repair the roads as is being suggested. I am amused that one journalists’s question to the Dep CM whether he would consider my supposed offer to repair roads seems to have transitioned into mainstream media news! No fact checking? Really sad to see this n people like u being made to comment!," Shaw said in her reply to Chidambaram's post.
In his post earlier on Wednesday, Chidambaram had called the move a 'great offer'. However, he also pointed towards the challenges in execution while suggesting a potential governance model.
"I noted with interest Mrs Kiran Mazumdar Shaw's offer to fund the development of some roads in Bengaluru. A great offer! Congratulations! But the problem with our public works is not the lack of public money; the problem is in the execution of the public work," Chidambaram said on X.
The senior Congress leader then proposed a governance model that pins supervision to a willing company or industrialist like Shaw.
"Governments can tweak Mrs Shaw's idea: Public money, tender, etc can be followed to select the contractor. After selection, the contractor will be placed under the supervision of a willing company or industrialist like Mrs Shaw," said Chidambaram.
While the contractor will execute the public work, the supervising company or industrialist will be responsible for the quality and timely execution of the work, he suggested.
“Any penalties or cost-overruns will be borne by the supervising company or industrialist,” Chidambaram stated, noting that Chennai or Bengaluru would be an apt place to experiment the idea.
On Tuesday, Shaw met CM Siddaramaiah and his deputy DK Shivakumar to greet them on the occasion of Deepavali, and assured cooperation and support for Bengaluru's development.
Shaw has been critical of Bengaluru's infrastructure woes by highlighting them through her social media posts, and has been repeatedly urging the state government to intervene.
Shivakumar, who is also the Minister in-charge of Bengaluru Development, later told reporters that Shaw has assured cooperation and support of the industry for the development of Bengaluru.
"Biocon chief Kiran Muzumdar-Shaw visited Cauvery (CM's official residence) and wished Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Deepavali. Legislative Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti was present on the occasion," the CM's office said in a statement.
Shaw met Shivakumar at his Sadashivanagar residence in Bengaluru.
Asked whether there was any discussion regarding Bengaluru with Shaw, Shivakumar, said, "Of course, they (industry leaders) have agreed that they are going to cooperate with the development of Bengaluru and they will not hurt Bengaluru. They will support the system."
He added that he has called a meeting of local bodies adjacent to the Greater Bengaluru Authority area. "I will be visiting those areas on Thursday and on Friday. I will be calling a meeting. Those areas will be part of the development. There is a huge difference in tax between those areas and Bengaluru Corporation (GBA). We have to see to it that all those areas are also developed." Noting that IT/BT and other industries have said that they will cooperate for Bengaluru development, the Deputy CM said he will call them for a meeting.
"Now I'm visiting all the five corporations and meeting people there. After that I will be calling IT/BT people separately...I will discuss it with them. I have sought their cooperation," he added.
The state government has come under criticism over the poor state of roads and traffic issues in the city for some time now, with industry veterans like former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai and Shaw repeatedly openly urging the state government to immediately intervene.
Faced with mounting criticism from industry leaders, Shivakumar, had recently urged them to stop "hurting" the city and the state that have contributed to their growth.
Pointing out that the government was making all efforts to fix the issues, he had appealed to industry leaders not to forget their "roots"'--Bengaluru, Karnataka, and its people--and asked them to be patient, stressing that "there is a limitation for everything."
With the Deputy CM subsequently alleging that Shaw and Mohandas Pai had some "personal agenda", as they did not raise any issues relating to Bengaluru infrastructure during the BJP regime, Shaw, rejecting it, had posted on 'X', "Not true. Both T V Mohandas Pai and I have criticised deteriorating infrastructure in our city to previous BJP & JDS Governments. Our agenda is clear, clean up and restore roads." Later in the day, Shaw also met veteran BJP leader and former CM B S Yediyurappa at his residence.
She also called on BJP MLA and former Deputy CM C N Ashwath Narayan at his residence.
"It was a pleasure to receive Ms. Kiran Shaw, Founder & Executive Chairperson of Biocon, at my residence today. She visited to invite me to a family function, and I congratulated her on being ranked the 3rd richest woman in the world," Narayan posted on 'X'.
With inputs from PTI
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