Bengaluru tech leaders protest inaction on poor roads, traffic jams: 'It will only get worse'

After the recent spate of rains flooded Bengaluru once again, tech leaders in the city seem to have had enough. As the region continues to get flooded after every wet spell, worsening the daily traffic congestion, several senior executives of tech startups have taken to social media to protest government inaction despite repeated requests.

This comes days after former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai slammed the Karnataka government for the poor condition of roads, drainage, and traffic on Bengaluru's Outer Ring Road (ORR). He said the poor infrastructure is causing anger among multinational companies that have offices in the area. If the government does not take steps to improve the conditions, these companies may consider opening offices in cities outside the state, Pai said on Monday.

On Tuesday, Curefoods founder Ankit Nagori shared on X that it took him three hours to commute 10 km. "Would have been 4 had I not walked the last 5 km. Earlier it used to be once or twice a year and now it’s almost after every rains," he wrote.

When another X user commented that there is no absolutely no hope of anything getting better since the government has shrugged responsibility, Nagori replied: "It will only get worse."

Investor Ritesh Banglani shared a picture of plying through flooded streets. "I'm in a traffic jam in the middle of a frigging river. But hey, at least the signboards are in Kannada," he wrote on X, taking a dig at the state government focusing on promoting the local language among migrant professionals even as the infrastructure of the IT capital is crumbling.