IT firms ready to fund urban mobility projects, says NRN

'Infosys is prepared to be a proactive citizen to make urban commute easy for everyone'

Indicating that ‘well-intentioned’ IT firms are ready to finance urban mobility projects in the City, Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy on Thursday drew attention to Infosys’ readiness to release Rs 100 crore for the Electronics City flyover.

In an interaction with Deccan Herald, Murthy stressed that Infosys was prepared to be a proactive citizen to make urban commute easy for everyone.

Murthy had lent his support to the Bengaluru Blueprint to formulate a structured framework for the city’s growth. In this regard, he identified four areas to make the City more liveable: Transportation, pollution, security and water.

The first priority, he said, “will be to create user-friendly and congestion-free transportation means. Citizens should be able to commute from East to West and North to South easily.”

Pollution levels in the City have to be arrested before it gets beyond control. “Instead of waiting for that reaching the unbearable level, we should work ahead to take on it,” he noted.

Commuter safety, especially during night, was another area that Murthy wanted the spotlight to be on. He was clear that “we have to take proactive steps in this regard.”

Identifying availability of water as a critical factor that would determine Bengaluru’s future, Murthy said the northern part of the City faced water shortage and the South was heavily dependent on supply from River Cauvery.

“But,” he cautioned, “the river itself is in bad shape because of bad rain last year. We have to improve the availability of water and also educate citizen on how to use the resource very sparingly.”

Many challenges
The challenges are many. But Murthy felt City Development Minister K J George was keen to make a difference to Bengaluru.

Discussions related to boosting the City’s infrastructure are on at multiple levels. Many eminent citizens are being consulted, the co-founder of Infosys said.

Would the IT sector support steps to maximise available resources such as boosting the rail network passing close to Electronic City?

He was non-committal, but added: “We will have to talk to George. I don’t want to give a half-baked knowledge. We are working to extend the Metro to Electronic City.”