The Hindu Business Line : Rebuilding Brand Bangalore

The recent spate of verbal clashes between politicians on one side and IT CEOs on the other, does not augur well for the future of Bangalore as Silicon Valley of India.

The acrimony seems far from subsiding and appears to be gathering steam with politicians in no mood to learn from their mistakes and are attacking the IT sector with allegations of land grabbing.

Bangalore, which is currently facing an infrastructure crisis of mammoth proportions, experienced the worst floods in the city's recent history. But all the response it got from the government was apathy and indifference.

Instead of collaborating with IT companies to overhaul the city's crumbling infrastructure, Bangalore's politicians are content to play the blame game.

It is the responsibility of the government to provide basic amenities and ensure a certain standard of living. This would automatically mean the provision of proper roads, safe drinking water and steady power supply.

The fact that the administration has failed miserably on all of the above does not bode well for the state.

In the past, the state had taken initiatives on the development front which had resulted in growth of industries in the city and the fruits of which are the mushrooming of IT industry all over the country.

Building the brand image was not easy. It involved hard work from both the visionary politicians in the past and the hard work done by the Indian IT industry coupled with he clustering effect needed for development of such industry. It looks like state politicians would rather play petty politics instead of turning their attention to the development of the city.

Bangalore is fast losing its competitive edge with the bad publicity generated during the recent floods.

Unless, concerted measures are taken immediately Bangalore will suffer some serious image bruising.

It is critical that the brand image of Bangalore as IT hub is maintained for growth of the country as a whole.

Nagesh Vishnumurthy

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