Wink-wink, nod-nod must end

BJP leader N R Ramesh has squarely, if unconscionably, blamed technology companies with large offices and campuses in the city for the recent rain-induced flooding in its IT hub. He has accused them of tarnishing the image of India’s ‘Silicon Valley’, forgetting that the city got that tag due to these very companies in the first place. Nonetheless, the industry would do well to take seriously the questions that he has raised in an open letter to T V Mohandas Pai, a former Infosys executive and a prominent voice of the industry, in response to the latter’s call to ‘Save Bengaluru’ from corrupt and inept governance. According to Ramesh, 79 tech parks affiliated to the Outer Ring Road Companies Association, over 250 IT/BT companies under the Electronics City Industries Association, and some 100 companies in Mahadevapura have all encroached upon stormwater drains (SWD). Ramesh has named Infosys, Wipro, Biocon, Siemens, Tech Mahindra, Tata Power, Bosch, IBM, TCS and HP, all located in Electronics City. On Outer Ring Road, he said Cessna, Ecospace, Salarpuria, Manyata and Bagmane tech parks occupy nearly 10 million sqm, of which about 25 per cent is built on SWDs and lake beds. At ITPL, he pointed the finger at Accenture, MU Sigma, Aegis, Tesco and Dell for completely encroaching upon SWDs. Pai, widely seen as a cheerleader of the BJP himself, has responded that most IT companies were only tenants in these tech hubs which were owned by “well-known” politicians. The companies Ramesh named are yet to respond.

True, many IT companies are only tenants and had minimal or no role in the construction of the buildings they occupy. But did they carry out due diligence before taking up tenancy. Corporates, especially MNCs, conduct due diligence with a checklist that includes location and weather, fire safety, political and social risk assessments, legality of building and land documents, etc. Do they also check for building violations of local laws, flooding and other risks, conformity to their climate change goals and principles? It is known that companies are often aware of violations and their dangers but take a wink-wink, nod-nod approach along with builders and officials. This must stop. Companies must take responsibility for not only their businesses but also the local communities they are embedded in.

Yet, the major responsibility and culpability for violation of norms lies with the government and its officials. Why did successive governments allow these violations over the decades? The heads of officials responsible must roll; the politicians involved must be exposed. If Ramesh’s allegations are true, then nothing prevents the government from demolishing illegal structures and initiating action against both builders and guilty officials. Importantly, the government must get down to finding solutions so that a similar situation does not arise next monsoon.