IT enclave's road to insecurity

IT enclave's road to insecurity

Several pleas to BBMP Commissioner and police have yielded no result

Sudipa Chakraborty. Bangalore



For the 40,000 plus employees of different multi national companies operating out of the Embassy Golf Links Business Park (EGLBP), located at the Indiranagar-Koramangala intermediate ring road (IRR), security is a major issue of concern.
Even though it is disconcerting, the fact remains that the business park, which is home to around 30 companies like Microsoft, Yahoo, IBM, and Goldman Sachs among others, is accessible to all and sundry through a road that connects IRR to Wind Tunnel road near the old airport.
It seems that the tenants of the business park have made several pleas to the BBMP Commissioner, Commissioner of Police and the DG & IG of Karnataka in the year 2007, requesting to seek their intervention in restricting access to the road.
But their demand was conveniently ignored by the concerned authorities for quite sometime now.
When he was told about the issue, the then Minister of Home, MP Prakash had also directed the BBMP Commissioner to restrict access to that road and take appropriate action in this regard in the year 2007. Moreover, according to a MOU between BBMP and the army authorities in the year 2007, an arrangement for an alternative road connecting the IRR and Wind Tunnel road was also made to facilitate public movement on the same road. But, the pleas of the multinationals and the directive of the former Home Minister have fallen on deaf ears as the government refused to take any concrete step.
Even two years after the directive from MP Prakash, the road running along the north-east and northern boundaries of the business park continues to pose a massive security threat to all these multinational establishments.
Talking to DNA, Amit Ahuja, Corporate Affairs, Embassy Group, said, "It is a known fact that multinational establishments including IT giants in Bangalore face major security threats from various terrorist groups. In view of the current situation, this road has become a cause of serious concern to the occupants of the park. Unless, BBMP restricts the access of this road, we are unable to ensure safety to the high profile and sensitive establishments in the park."
"This road was originally used exclusively by the occupants of the park and as a relief path during the construction of the Airport road flyover. The Airport road flyover has been completed long back and traffic flow can be controlled without using this road now. So, it should be meant for exclusive use by the employees of these companies now," said Rohit Kramnik, an employee of IBM.
Saurabh P, an employee of Continuous Computing, added, "An alternative road along the southern boundary wall of the park should be ready in another two months. That should be of help to common people."
The road is maintained by the Embassy group. "It has become a sort of a rampant thoroughfare for anybody and everybody on that road. People get annoyed when stopped by our security guards," said a senior manager with the Embassy Group.