Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw calls Bengaluru 'garbage city', sparks debate

Bengaluru is considered the Silicon Valley of India. The city is deemed to have a bright future ahead with the AI boom and startup culture creating more opportunities than could have been imagined. However, in the greed of expanding commerce, the city has sacrificed its nature, something it was previously known for.Pointing this out, Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw took to X to make a scathing post about the city's disparity. She shared a graphic contrasting the city's current infrastructure with what it could have been if it had been designed with more greenery.Sharing the image on the social media platform, Mazumdar-Shaw wrote, "This is how we need to design & plan our roads that reflects our garden city. Unfortunately it's now a garbage city with shrinking greenery."The visual compared two versions of an elevated road corridor. One side, titled "What we built," showed a concrete-heavy stretch with captions claiming trees had been removed, footpaths and service roads eliminated and public amenities lost.The other, titled "What we could have built," reimagined the same corridor with retained trees, cycling tracks, wider footpaths and street amenities like lighting, benches and bins.Social media reactionsAs the post gained traction online, numerous social media users agreed with the founder's views. They blamed poor planning, weak governance and inadequate enforcement for the city's deteriorating infrastructure.“Can't agree more. Administrators and politicians have joined hands to loot this city. They are interested in concrete roads as they can get more cut in iron, cement etc. They can't get cut in the trees planted,” wrote a user.“Did you give these comparison images to the Chief Minister or Development Minister when you met them last week? because posting here no one will take this into account and neither do the ministers themselves open X to read what citizens are posting,” asked one.“Unless the corruption ends and there is some responsibility and accountabilty, nothing will improve. govt employees & administrators who are involved target how to get the cuts from overall budgets. do you think anyone sincerely plan for better bangalore and better life style?” added another.“This is a great idea but is highly unsuitable for such a big city like Banglore. First is you can’t find such big roads in Banglore everywhere and second people won’t maintain those Taj Mahal type roads” a user chimed in.Get the latest movie news, reviews, and celebrity updates. Download the TOI App.