‘Situation beyond hope’: Blaming potholes, BlackBuck CEO announces ‘breakup’ with Bengaluru; netizens rally | Bengaluru News

BENGALURU: A city-based IT company has decided to move out of its current location — not because of unfriendly policy parameters or power cuts, but potholes.Yes, you read it right. Potholes.Rajesh Kumar Yabaji, the Bengaluru-based CEO of digital trucking platform BlackBuck, has announced on X that his company is on its way out of its Bellandur office, off Outer Ring Road (ORR), after nine years of operations. His post, which read like a breakup note, said: “ORR (Bellandur) has been our ‘office + home’ for the last 9 years. But it’s now very-very hard to continue here.” His post, complete with a broken-heart emoji. The reason for moving out of Bellandur? A torturous commute that takes his colleagues more than an hour-and-a-half one way, on roads that resemble the surface of the moon. Bellandur, which was one of the first localities in Bengaluru to witness rapid growth in terms of office space and residential units as home to global IT giants, is notorious for broken roads, clogged drains, crumbling infrastructure and govt apathy. Worse still, the CEO has little hope of the situation improving in the next five years. Bluntly pointing to the traffic trauma, Yabaji posted, “Roads full of potholes and dust, coupled with the lowest intent to get them rectified. Did not see any of this changing in the next five years.” While the state govt is yet to react to this grim development, deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar’s earlier replies to similar concerns were on the beaten track, saying: “Bengaluru is not a planned city. Work (fixing) cannot be completed in a single day, [but] we are on the job.”The ORR stretch between Silk Board and K R Puram is an IT corridor that houses more than 500 companies, with nearly a million professionals commuting daily. In fact, the tech parks along the stretch have witnessed a 45% jump in vehicular traffic, compared to last year.What comes across as a practical joke is that Bellandur continues to be the highest revenue generator for the city’s civic body.While netizens rallied behind Yabaji for standing by employee welfare, former Infosys CFO and Aarin Capital chief Mohandas Pai interpreted the BlackBuck move as a “big failure of governance in Bengaluru”. Drawing the attention of the deputy CM, Pai’s fervent appeal says: “Please see, companies are moving out of ORR. Situation beyond hope. Please intervene.” Weighing in on the issue, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra commented: “The city’s infrastructure is choking under pressure. Time, talent, and investment are slipping away because of the govt’s apathy. A city built over decades into a global tech hub is now being undone by neglect.” A few netizens, though, trained their guns on Vijayendra, alleging that as the local MLA and MP, he has done little to address the issue. In fact, netizen Shankar summed up Bellandur’s woes, saying: “Bellandur feels like a workplace purgatory. The roads are a mess, pedestrian infrastructure is practically non-existent, the air is thick with dust and greenery is a distant dream. Parking is a daily nightmare and traffic management is so chaotic, you can be trapped for kilometres.” “Greater Bengaluru IT Companies and Industries Association expresses deep concern over the continued infrastructure neglect along ORR. The decision of leading firms to move out highlights the urgent need for govt intervention. We call for a transparent roadmap to improve roads, Metro connectivity, and public utilities, and reiterate our willingness to collaborate with the authorities to restore Bengaluru’s status as the tech capital of India.” — Krishna Kumar Gowda, general secretary, Greater Bengaluru IT Companies & Industries Association What Bellandur wants: