traffic and appalling infrastructure that

Whitefield

techies endure every day

Whitefield techies

ITPB

Kundalahalli

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah

Chief Secretary Kaushik Mukherjee

WAIDA

RK Misra

KR Puram

Hopefarm

Varthur Kodi

Marathalli.

Travelling as a regular commuter, the Transport Minister was shocked by the chokingThe only way he could get a taste of what it was like for techies commuting to and from Whitefield was to travel like they did, sans police escorts, wailing sirens and green signals.Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, who also holds the Bengaluru city portfolio, got to experience, first hand, Whitefield’s ‘legendary’ traffic when he went for a drive with tech captains on Monday.The snail’s pace, epic tailbacks, endless signals, not to mention choking pollution was enough for the minister to finally admit that yes, Whitefield, we have a problem!After the drive, Reddy admitted it was high time the Chief Minister was told that a special package for the Whitefield was necessary toot de suite.Reddy promisedthat he would travel as a regular commuter, on Thursday last, but the trip never happened. But on Monday, as he was in Whitefield to launch the January edition of Bus Day, he decided to join the techies for a recce of the area. He was accompanied by members of Whitefield Rising, as well as the local corporator. The journey began at noon and took a route that passed, Hope Farm, Varthur andAs soon as he got out of the car, Reddy told Mirror, “I will speak to bothandfor a package. As of now, the infrastructure in Whitefield is pathetic. There are four lakh employees at this place and things need to be improved. This can happen only if the government announces a package. So, I along with the techies will have a meeting with the CM shortly. We may also invite him to the place so that greater stress is given to this area.”Whitefield Area Infrastructure Development Alliance () convenorsaid, “I was sitting with Reddy in his car as we went across the key areas of the tech corridor. There was slow-moving traffic and we were struck for a few minutes at Hope Farm junction. The same saga continued near Varthur. I told the minister that he should join us during peak time when the roads are literally choked.He acknowledged that the road condition was pretty bad and needed urgent surgery.”Later speaking to Mirror, Reddy said, “In terms of taxes, Whitefield area is contributing a lot to the BBMP, State Government as well as the Centre. I also feel that the work on a signal-free corridor should speed up. I called the BBMP commissioner to conduct work on signal-free corridors on a priority basis; Old airport road as well as Old Madras road. This signal-free work will be a big boon for techies heading to this area. I have also told the BBMP commissioner that the government was ready to give grants, but the BBMP should ensure that all grants given for infrastructure projects should be utilised only for doing work and not for BBMP's miscellaneous expenditures like paying salaries and dues etc.”Misra reiterated that he and other techies of the area have requested Reddy carve a separate municipal body for Whitefield that would have as its boundary, ITPB,, Whitefield,, Kundalahalli and