Industry reacts to NRN resignation

BRUNNERSPEAK
Deccan Herald

‘It’s shocking‘

BIAL Chief Executive Officer Albert Brunner expressed “shock and surprise” at the resignation of Mr Murthy.

Stating that it was a “great privilege” working with the Infosys chief, Mr Brunner said he would persuade him to withdraw the resignation. He confidence that the project would not be affected.



INDUSTRY REACTIONS

It’s a really sad development. Mr Narayana Murthy had added a lot of value to the project. He played a major role in getting things forward, leading to the financial closure of the project. Now that the work on the airport is on the execution level, the project may not suffer per se. However, this is a situation which could have been avoided.

R K Misra, Vice President — Flextronics

Mr Murthy has contributed a lot to the project. It’s unfortunate that he has to leave at this juncture. Though the airport has reached the execution level, the presence of a mature leader like him will still be missed. The ongoing tussle between industries and politicians is unfortunate.

C N Kumar, CEO — Advantage Solutions

I’m disappointed at this turn of events. Having a person of his calibre in the team is always an asset. He has definitely been very influential in getting the project going. Animosity between the industries and politicians is not going to help Bangalore’s cause. What we should do is sit down and discuss issues across the table. That’s the only solution in sight.

Veera Raghavan, MD — Novell

ON THE JOB

*Mr Murthy was in January, 2001 chosen to head the special purpose vehicle BIAL, with BPL Innovision Chairman & CEO Mr Rajeev Chandrashekhar named one of its three directors. Mr B K Das, then Principal Secretary — Infrastructure Development was named the third director.

* Even before his appointment as BIAL Chairman, Mr Murthy, in his role as Chairman of the Karnataka IT Task Force, had been calling for direct air connectivity between major international airlines and Bangalore.

* In December, 2003 BIAL Chief Executive Officer Mr Albert Brunner had on record lauded Mr Murthy’s efforts in the project’s progress.

* When the new State Government in 2004 decided to review approvals to the project by the previous S M Krishna Government, it was Mr Murthy who wrote to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, apprising him of the situation.

The PM later sought a project report and asked Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel to intervene.