Politicians neglected B'lore infrastructure: Mohandas Pai

Bangalore, Apr 15 (UNI) It was unfortunate that the politicians in Karnataka had ignored the need for providing the state capital with good infrastructure, Infosys Director (Human Resources) T V Mohandas Pai said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference here, he said Bangalore city contributed 50 per cent of the state's GDP and paid the highest quantum of Income tax of Rs 12,500 crore in India.

Delhi was second in IT payments at Rs 10,500 crore despite having three times the city's population, he said.

The city contributed 60 per cent of the tax revenues and created 50 per cent of the 'white collar jobs' for Karnataka. In 1999, the state's income from taxes was just Rs 3,900 crore and now it was Rs 33,000 crore. This is mainly due to the developing IT sector in the state, he claimed.

''Why do these politicians want to destroy this city by ignoring its infrastructure. This is the cash cow of Karnataka,'' he said.

Mr Pai said there was an urgent need to have an agenda for the city because the state's future was linked to the future of the city. If Bangalore's future was affected, then the state's future would be marred, he added.

He said some improvements seen in the city roads were mainly due to delimitation of Assembly segments.

''This is the reason it has become important to politicians. There is no change of heart. Twenty eight seats are politically important and hence it is happening,'' he said.

He, however, said the political parties' election manifestos for the coming Assembly elections should focus on farmers, women, children and unorganised sector. There had to be a special charter on Bangalore as well. Urban areas were important, he argued.

Mr Pai added that it was wrong to say that the city took most of the state's money, when 80 per cent of the budget was spent outside the city, he added.

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