IT women pitch for better roads

IT women pitch for better roads
Deccan Herald

Less than a month before the state-level IT meet - IT.in, the war cry against crumbling infrastructure is again beginning to sound, just like it did last year. However, this time, it is the women members of Electronic City Industries Association (ELCIA) who have taken up the issue.

For the first time, two women IT professionals joined the ELCIA delegation to meet the Minister for Public Works, H D Revanna on Monday evening.

Their main grouse was the pathetic condition of approach roads to Electronic City, and the adverse effect it was having on their quality of life.


Senior managers of Infosys Technologies - N S Rama and Aruna N - met the Minister to highlight the problems of women, who comprise 30 per cent of the IT workforce.

“The problems of traffic and bad roads are especially hard on mothers and married women, who are anyway doing the balancing act between work and family. Many have been driven to leaving their well-paying jobs because travelling to and from work is very taxing.

There are some who bring their toddlers to work and keep them in the creche, but it is difficult for them to travel too. It is frustrating to spend two-three hours on the road unnecessarily,” said Rama. As the next step, the two women are planning to collect all women employees working in Electronic City, and make a presentation to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy.

Mounting problems

ELCIA members, representing the IT, garment and manufacturing industries, pointed out the mounting infrastructure problems to Revanna. On one hand, with an estimated 1,40,000 passenger car units per hour, the traffic congestion on Hosur road has far overshot the maximum permissible limit of 6,000 PCU, and rendered it almost unmotorable. On the other, the ongoing construction work of the elevated expressway project has further worsened the situation, as the side roads have not been developed to take on the diverted traffic.

The languishing road works on several roads like 80 Feet Road; Koramangala and Bannerghatta Road have also contributed towards the mess, they rued.

The representatives also asked the government to support the Bangalore Mysore Infrastructure Corridor project and complete the peripheral ring road that will connect Electronics City to the rest of Bangalore.

Sources revealed that Revanna promised the delegation that he would visit Electronics City shortly to review the situation.

The Minister has also said that the PWD will call for tenders for six roads that connect the IT zones on the outskirts.

“We highlighted our problems to the Government, and their reactions were positive. We do not believe in confrontation, our stand will not affect our participation in IT.in in any way. However, the Government should get concerned about how outsiders will view Bangalore’s infrastructure when they visit during that time,” Infosys Human Resources head Mohandas Pai said.