Bengaluru's Traffic Nightmare Forces Emergency Meeting As Protests, Business Threats Escalate

The Karnataka government has convened an emergency high-level meeting in Bengaluru on Saturday, given the mounting complaints, protests, and even threats from companies to relocate from the city.

The high-level emergency meeting will involve top officers of the newly formed Greater Bengaluru authority and will address issues along the IT corridor, including Sarjapur and Iblur junctions.

“It is a serious problem and is being addressed, but it looks like it needs more paced action. Citizens are up in arms and with social media being used, there is a need to work faster and more efficiently. The monsoon also has been hampering work, but the government is doing its best to resolve the issue. The DCM has already announced a deadline of November. It will

be met,” said a source in the government to News18.

Business leaders have repeatedly highlighted how Bengaluru’s poor roads and inadequate civic amenities are crippling daily life. Veteran figures such as Mohandas Pai and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, alongside senior executives of firms located in the city’s IT clusters, have consistently flagged the problems. Employees face endless traffic snarls and delays in reaching their offices, with some companies openly considering moving operations elsewhere. Andhra Pradesh, in fact, has been wooing potential investors away from the city by promising smoother infrastructure.

Karnataka’s deputy chief minister DK Shivakumar insists the government is committed to fixing the issue. “We are working to make Bengaluru pothole-free. Citizens and police are helping us by reporting problem spots. Funds have been released, and we are ensuring work is completed.”

But opposition leaders disagree. BJP leaders have accused the Congress government of “destroying Brand Bengaluru” with mismanagement and corruption. “One spell of rain and Bengaluru is flooded, potholes reappear, ambulances are stranded, and citizens suffer. This is the face of Congress misrule,” leader of opposition R Ashok charged.

At the centre of this crisis is Bengaluru, but one prominent pressure point is the 19-kilometre Outer Ring Road stretch between KR Puram Metro station and Silk Board. This corridor alone is home to more than 500 IT firms, providing employment to nearly 9.5 lakh professionals in high-paying jobs. It generates close to Rs 1.5 lakh crore in IT exports every year, contributing billions in foreign exchange. Industry insiders emphasise that every single kilometre of this road is worth nearly a billion dollars in forex—an unmatched contribution by any other 15–20 km stretch in the country.

Yet, despite such economic significance, Outer Ring Road remains crippled by basic failures. Congested roads, flooding during rains, and lack of reliable public transport continue to frustrate both companies and their employees. Experts caution that without urgent corrective measures, Bengaluru risks losing its standing as India’s IT capital, with businesses already scouting for alternatives in rival states.

Industry veterans say that ORR itself has eight lakh people use this stretch, which holds 93 million square feet of office space. There is no other road in the world with 93 million square feet of workspace and eight lakh employees. Nothing like this exists anywhere else—and yet, despite this scale, governance has completely failed.

The discontent was amplified after Pai and Mazumdar-Shaw raised fresh concerns about the state of roads around Google India’s campus. Taking to social media, Pai appealed directly to IT Minister Priyank Kharge: “Minister @PriyankKharge please intervene and help. @GoogleIndia campus here is the pride of Bengaluru. Please help that area,” he wrote, tagging Shaw, Shivakumar, and Yulu co-founder RK Misra.

Industry voices argue that neither the state nor the Centre has kept pace with the corridor’s rapid growth. Their demands include fast-tracking metro work, strengthening arterial links to ease traffic, implementing flood-control systems, and creating dependable world-class bus services. Some have even suggested chopper services from the airport and tax rebates for carpooling as short-term measures.

“People don’t seem to realise how vital this road is. Many are too caught up in their own work, while the government looks away. The chief minister and his so-called guarantee government have handed out Rs 60,000 crore in freebies, but when it comes to fixing infrastructure, there’s no money. Everyone is angry, everyone is upset. This government has turned into a total disaster,” explained Pai.

Highlighting the cost of inaction, Zippee CEO Madhav Kasturia claimed in a viral LinkedIn post that India loses over Rs 60,000 crore annually to traffic jams and pothole-ridden roads, more than the country spends on its defence against Pakistan. “Governments can keep tweeting ‘smart cities’. The truth is, we’re running on dumb roads,” Kasturia wrote, pointing to how delays and logistical breakdowns are draining the economy.

He further cited the letter by BlackBuck co-founder Rajesh Yabaji, claiming to exit from Outer Ring Road after nine years due to the “unbearable” commute. “That’s business, leaving a city,” he remarked. Later, Yabaji clarified that he was relocating within Bengaluru and not leaving.

Data reinforces these concerns. Bengaluru is ranked the third-slowest city in the world, with average travel speeds of 10 km in 34 minutes. Mumbai and Delhi fare little better, while Tokyo covers the same distance in just 12 minutes. The average Indian urban commute is nearly 59 minutes one way, amounting to close to two hours lost every day per worker. Multiplied across 100 million professionals, the productivity losses stretch into several tens of thousands of crores.

Shivakumar, meanwhile, has maintained that his government is “committed to solving Bengaluru’s pothole issues”.

Defending his administration, he declared that the state would not be pressured into action by threats of companies moving out. “If they are uncomfortable investing or being here, not happy with the work, they are free to go, but they cannot hold the government to ransom,” Shivakumar said, responding to remarks by BlackBuck’s founder.

Shivakumar also pointed to ongoing efforts. “While the Opposition is busy with politics, we are working on easing the daily struggles of Bengalureans. Nearly 7,000 potholes have already been repaired and work continues on over 5,000 more. Citizens and the police are actively helping us by reporting problem spots across the city. Our government has released funds without bias, including Rs 25 crore to BJP MLAs for road works. But they choose blame games instead of getting the work done. Our government is committed to solutions that make life safer and smoother for our people. Namma Bengaluru was great, is great and will always be great.”

The Opposition, however, remains unrelenting in its criticism. Its leaders have declared that “Brand Bengaluru is bleeding under CM @siddaramaiah & DCM @DKShivakumar.” One statement read: “Just one spell of rain and DCM DK Shivakumar’s Brand Bengaluru is reduced to flooded roads, potholes, stranded citizens, stalled ambulances, and fleeing companies. This is the true face of @INCKarnataka governance—corruption in contracts, zero planning, no scientific roadwork, and total negligence. Citizens suffer, economy suffers, image suffers. But CM & DCM are busy with only vote-bank politics. Bengaluru deserves world-class infrastructure, not this shameless misrule.”

For Bengalureans, the political blame game means little. Every day, they continue to inch through gridlocked traffic, dodging potholes that have become as much a part of the city as its tech parks.

The uproar over the city’s collapsing infrastructure has reached a point where alarm bells are ringing not only among citizens but also across the tech industry, which sustains the state’s economy.

“This entire monsoon season I have sought three days in a row of work from home. The roads are so bad, potholed roads making it worse. I lose energy by the time I am in office and back,” explained Prassana Rao, who works in the ORR IT cluster.

Praveen Malik, who moved to Bengaluru just a few weeks ago with a new job, is trying to figure out his commute time. “I end later in office each day as I am unable to predict the traffic congestion near Marathahalli. Sometimes I stare at the signal for nearly 30 mins, and when it does go green, it’s just 2 minutes and most vehicles are unable to pass within that time. If you look around, everybody is complaining, because it’s mayhem,” he said.

A group of residents from the Sarjapur–Chikkabellandur area had planned a silent protest as they said enough was enough, but lack of permission forced them to withdraw it. “We are planning a walk to office or cycle to office as a means of last hope because the roads are so bad and unmotorable now,” said members of Cameralaram United Citizens forum.