Karnataka IT and Higher Education Minister, C N Ashwath Narayan has vowed to find a permanent solution to infrastructure-related issues by the next monsoon after a meeting with the heads of IT/BT firms held on Wednesday.

The minister heard the IT companies’ woes and said that a virtual meeting will be conducted every month from now on to resolve the grievances of entrepreneurs. He also sought the cooperation of the entrepreneurs to retain the “Brand Bengaluru” 

The primary concern of the IT honchos was to bring to the notice of the government the miseries they face and the loss caused due to poor infrastructure. 

Representatives of Goldman Sachs, Infosys, Wells Fargo, Wipro, Mphasis, Intel, VMware, TCS, Accenture, Sonata Software, Philips, and Solace were among the few who attended the meeting.

Disruptive floods

Areas that house most tech companies — Outer Ring Road(ORR), Sarjapur Road, Bellandur, and Whitefield — were flooded and various campuses inundated. Employees were stuck in traffic for long hours. Visuals of employees commuting to work on tractors also made rounds on social media. 

The Outer Ring Road Companies Association(ORRCA) — represents all major IT companies on the ORR stretch — had estimated that companies have suffered a loss of ₹225 crores in a single day as employees were stuck in traffic for five hours 

Bengaluru has witnessed heavy downpours in the last week. On Sunday, the city received 131.6 mm of rainfall in 24 hours, making it the third highest ever single-day rainfall recorded in the city. The continuous downpour has resulted in severe flooding and infrastructure damage. 

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