Before airport, get your roads right, Murthy tells Karnataka

Infosys chief mentor NR Narayana Murthy on Thursday warned the Karnataka government that Bangalore could face ridicule if the city’s new international airport came up before the approach roads were bettered.

Infosys chief mentor NR Narayana Murthy on Thursday warned the Karnataka government that Bangalore could face ridicule if the city’s new international airport came up before the approach roads were bettered.

At a government function to honour 17 industrialists to mark the state’s golden jubilee celebrations, Murthy said: “If the new airport is ready and the roads to the airport are not ready, Bangalore will not look good to

the world”.

The new international airport being built by an international consortium at Devenahalli, 21 km from Bangalore, will be ready ahead of time in 2008 but the tenders for creation of an expressway link between

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Bangalore and the airport have not yet been called, Murthy said.

He also reminded the state government that the potential to create more jobs in Bangalore could be realised only if the political leadership in Karnataka and bureaucracy worked in partnership with industry. “Job creation does not mean anything if this government does not reaffirm a commitment to make it easy for people to commute not only in Bangalore but to Mysore, Shimoga, Hubli and other places,” he said.

The information technology sector can create upto 35 lakh jobs in Bangalore but infrastructure needs to keep pace if people’s aspirations are to be fulfilled, he added.