YAY: Govt. promises to address concerns of IT firms

Govt. promises to address concerns of IT firms
The Hindu

Stung by the reported move of several information technology companies, especially those with overseas connections, to boycott Bangalore IT.com scheduled to be held early in November, the State Government responded on Saturday assuring that their concerns would be addressed immediately.

The Bangalore Forum of IT Companies (BFIT), an informal grouping of technology and research and development firms, including Texas Instruments, Synopsis, vMoksha Technologies, and Philips Software, on Friday evening decided not to participate in this year's Bangalore IT.com a major annual industry event.

"This is to register our protest at the apathy of the State Government to providing basic infrastructure such as better roads and better traffic control," they announced. The Secretary, Information Technology, K.N. Shankaralinge Gowda, told presspersons on Saturday that at least the roads would be repaired and decongested by October-end.

"The civic agencies have already started work at a fast pace to complete road repairs in time and we are sure the work will be done," he said.

Truck movement

The IT Department has been holding consultations with the city police about stopping the movement of trucks on some major roads during the peak hours, both in the morning and evening, Mr. Gowda said.

One major grouse of the IT firms has been that heavy vehicular traffic on Hosur Road, Sarjapur Road, Bannerghatta Road, and Ring Road led to frequent traffic jams and delays.

The Union Minister, T.R. Balu's announcement about an elevated road parallel to Hosur Road, from Madiwala junction to Electronic City, was also in response to this need.

The traffic police would attend to this immediately, the IT Secretary said.

Discussions

The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, himself will persuade the IT companies to drop their boycott move and participate as usual in the Bangalore IT.com, Mr. Gowda said.

"The Chief Minister will hold discussions with industry leaders soon after the October 13 byelection in Bidar," Mr. Gowda said.

"We don't expect any serious impact because of the IT companies' boycott threat but will respond to the industry's serious concerns.

The city is home to more than 1,300 IT firms and new companies continue to come to Bangalore," he remarked.