Wipro Chairman Azim Premji, Bengaluru Vision Group urge CM to tackle water woes on war footing

Bengaluru, May 26: Wipro Chairman Ajim Premji urged CM of Karnataka to develop Bengaluru at a war fooring, especially in areas of water scarcity. Some of the other things that he pointed out were traffic management and roadway maintenance.

A part of the Bengaluru Vision Group or the Bengaluru Blueprint Action Group that was constituted by CM Siddaramaiahin April, Premji was backed by the other members- biocon chief Kiran Majumdar Shaw who stressed on the need to improve mobility.

Emphasizing that the city contributes 65% to the state's GDP and 70% of its tax revenues, he said,"Water scarcity is crucial. We are pumping water to the city from so far but 40% of it is wasted through leakage and pilferage. We can enforce metering and rainwater harvesting."

Pitching for the rejuvenation of lakes, Premji said that most of them have been polluted or encroached. The traffic issue also needs to be solved. He said, "In 15 years, the rate of movement of traffic has come down from 40 km/hour to 10 km/hour. We must remove potholes, resurface roads, focus on traffic management and clear encroachment."

Kiran Majumdar Shaw, meanwhile stressed on the need to working on seamless public transport system through common ticketing while finding strong ways to get the Rs 11,950-crore Peripheral Ring Road project going. "This project is crucial to improve mobility."

She further said, "If we don't deliver, we'll have egg on our face ." Suggestions by the Vision committee will be discussed with the Chief Minister's Bengaluru Metropolitan Planning Committee in the first week of June. On asking the chief minister whether the concept of forming such a committee came late, he said, "We will implement the Vision Group's suggestions in a time-bound manner. And we'll be in power even after two years."

OneIndia News