Respect B'lore and its tax-payers

T V Mohandas Pai, director, HR, Infosys Technologies

New York and London represent financial activity; San Francisco, culture; Singapore and Tokyo, business and innovation. Why can’t Bangalore be known for technology?

Bangalore has 70 lakh people. IT alone employs 6 lakh people. Over 4 lakh IT professionals in Bangalore pay an income tax of Rs 6,000 crore; they pay Rs 1,500 crore towards VAT and Rs 500 crore towards registration fee. The state’s GDP accounts for Rs 1,60,000 crore of which IT alone accounts for Rs 50,000 crore, with Bangalore alone contributing Rs 35,000 crore.

The government needs to respect tax-payers and give back what they demand in terms of infrastructure. As taxpayers , we have the right to demand better roads, uninterrupted power supply and clean water.
Let’s be blunt and honest. The city should have a democratic, revenue-making special purpose vehicle to put it back on track.

Bangalore has to be developed as a walker’s city, like London, Singapore or down-town New York. This will ease traffic congestion.

Bangalore has earned respect for India. Indians abroad will not be respected if we don’t respect the city.

Readers, what's your take on this.