‘Come to Vizag’: Andhra Pradesh IT minister Nara Lokesh woos BlackBuck CEO Rajesh Yabaji as company exits Bengaluru | Vijayawada News

Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh has invited BlackBuck co-founder and CEO Rajesh Yabaji to shift his company to Visakhapatnam

NEW DELHI: Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh has invited BlackBuck co-founder and CEO Rajesh Yabaji to shift his company to Visakhapatnam, after the entrepreneur announced plans to move out of Bengaluru’s Outer Ring Road (ORR) area. “Hi Rajesh, can I interest you in relocating your company to Vizag? We are rated among the top 5 cleanest cities in India, are building best-in-class infrastructure, and have been rated the safest city for women. Please send me a DM,” Lokesh wrote on X.The outreach came days after Yabaji posted that BlackBuck would leave its Bellandur office after nine years. He said commuting in the ORR stretch had become “very hard to continue”, with employees facing journeys of over 90 minutes each way on pothole-ridden roads.

“Roads full of potholes and dust, coupled with the lowest intent to get them rectified. Did not see any of this changing in the next five years,” Yabaji wrote, without clarifying whether the company would relocate within Bengaluru or outside the city.

Industry concern over governance

The move has sparked debate within Bengaluru’s IT ecosystem. Former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai described it as a “big failure of governance”, while industry groups warned that poor infrastructure was driving firms away. Krishna Kumar Gowda, General Secretary of the Greater Bengaluru IT Companies & Industries Association, said: “The decision of leading firms to move out highlights the urgent need for government intervention. We call for a transparent roadmap to improve roads, metro connectivity and public utilities.” The discontent coincided with a viral video of schoolchildren on a jolting bus ride along a cratered city road, which reignited public anger over Bengaluru’s civic neglect.

A Rs 1,100 crore plan

Deputy chief minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D K Shivakumar recently announced a Rs 1,100 crore plan for repairing and constructing roads, promising “pothole-free” stretches across all constituencies. But residents remain sceptical. A Times of India survey found deep craters patched with uneven cement that washed away in the rain. Some commuters described the roads as “death traps”. In Judicial Layout, where several senior officials reside, residents have even written poems about the state of the roads and sent them to the Prime Minister’s Office. Meanwhile, in Jayanagar, residents frustrated by dug-up streets and broken footpaths have staged protests, accusing civic bodies of neglecting promises of “model roads.” Basavaraj Kabade, chief engineer of the South City Corporation, said a list of roads requiring urgent repair was being finalised. “We’ll ensure the roads are fixed at the earliest,” he added.