Dharam passes Bangalore buck

Under siege by the "Bangalore club" of IT companies, Karnataka Chief Minister Dharam Singh, today lobbed the ball back into the Centre's court.

The companies have been demanding better infrastructure in Bangalore and the chief minister sought a "special package" to spruce up the garden city.

"Bangalore is one of the fastest growing city in the world, it grown over 74 per cent since the last year and its infrastructure is still the way it used to be in the 1940s," he said.

"We want the same vision for Bangalore that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh advanced for Mumbai," he added.

The chief minister has raised this issue with the deputy chairperson of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, too.

"Our planning board meeting is set for January 19 and the deputy chairperson has said that we should advance specific projects for which funds an be allocated," he said.

As for the IT companies taking flight from the city, Singh said, "Nobody is leaving Bangalore. We spoke to all of them. The Bangalore airport project has been cleared by the state Cabinet, the Bangalore Development Authority has been given the go ahead to develop residential areas on the periphery of the city, where most of these companies are located," he said.

The chief minister said his government will also be pushing for the setting up of the Rs 25,000 crore Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the state in collaboration with the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) despite the fact that Union Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar has been lukewarm to the idea.

"Our ministers have spoken to Aiyar and although, we are aware of the fact that he is not very keen on the project, we want that the memorandum of understanding between ONGC and the Karnataka government be honoured," he said.

"Aiyar has asked us if we want to explore option like collaboration with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) instead of ONGC, but we are sticking to our guns," he added. Singh will also be pushing for a power project worth Rs 10,000 crore in the state, in collaboration with Power Grid Corporation.

Singh has been at the receiving end of threats of mass exodus of the information technology industry from the cyber city because of Bangalore's poor infrastructure record.

By lobbing the ball into the Centre's court, Singh has cleverly deflected the intensity of attack, while at the same time, bought himself some time.