'Result of huge corruption': Mohandas Pai after commuter says Bangalore has worst roads 

Mohandas Pai, chairman of Aarin Capital, on Sunday criticised the state of roads in Bengaluru, calling it a result of "huge corruption and bad governance."

"Minister DK Shivakumar, Priyank Kharge, some feedback. This is not the result of growth but huge corruption and bad governance. Please help Commissioner, Greater Bengaluru Authority. Can't we have roads without potholes? This is not AI work but done for more than 200 years!" Pai wrote on X.

His comments came in response to a post by Naresh, a social media user, who described his commute from Bellandur to Bengaluru airport. "Traveled from Bellandur to Bengaluru airport just now. It took 1 hour 45 minutes! Insane. Plus, the roads are all dug up and pothole-ridden. Sorry to say but I think Bangalore has the worst roads of India. This is not sustainable. It will create a host of health problems for commuters in the next 10 years," Naresh wrote.

Naresh added in a separate post: "Bangalore guys. I love your city, been visiting it since the 70’s but you guys need to really do something about your roads and the commute times. See the travel time now in Hyderabad - 1 hour, for 40 kms into the heart of the city. (I'm still in the taxi )"

Reacting to Pai's comments, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Executive Chairperson of Biocon, expressed her concern over the lack of political urgency in addressing the issue. "I also am puzzled about why the political leadership is not showing the political urgency to fix our city and make it world class. It doesn't take more than a focus in terms of budgetary allocation n execution. A billion dollars needs to be ring-fenced to do this @siddaramaiah @DKShivakumar @PriyankKharge," she tweeted.

The Times of India reported on Sunday that pothole-filling work across Bengaluru has slowed because Greater Bengaluru Authority engineers and staff have been roped in to conduct a citywide caste survey.

An executive engineer said that the chief minister has warned the authority of stern action if the roads are not repaired within a month and now, "we have been directed to expedite caste survey. We fear we will be at the receiving end."

The city's pothole repair efforts have been severely slowed because more than 200 engineers from the five municipal corporations under the authority, who had previously been working around the clock to fix damaged roads, have been redirected to conduct the caste survey.