Tackling Bengaluru’s infra challenges: A CEO debate

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Poor roads. Traffic jams.

Fraying tempers. Overflowing sewers. Solid waste litter.

Water scarcity. Flooded roads from rain. Wrong-side driving.

Boorish behaviour all round. Sound familiar? All of the above, and more, are experienced regularly in practically all of India’s urban areas, be they metropolises or so-called tier-II, tier-III and below towns. As more and people migrate to cities in search of jobs, and more and more companies get into promising cities to set up business and provide employment, the problem magnifies.

Bengaluru, India’s much-touted technology capital, our very own Silicon Valley, is no exception. The city’s problems with infrastructure—both physical and social—are well documented and noted in formal as well as social media. So, when a discussion happens on these challenges in India’s fast-growing IT hotspot, you expect sparks to fly.

That is just what happened when a group of top CEOs of Bengaluru came together to deliberate on the challenges Bengaluru faces, and how that is impacting ‘Brand Bangalore’. Views were aplenty, and with varying perspectives. While some said the city’s growth is good and problems are to be expected, others expressed indignation at the growing infrastructure knots and even rising misbehaviour of citizens.

Still others offered suggestions on how things could be improved. Amrit Acharya, CEO and co-founder of Zetwerk, for one, said he couldn’t imagine living in any other city in India, but Bengaluru still manages to frustrate. One suggestion he had was to improve ‘walkability’ in the city.