Bangalore famous for IT, traffic jams: Reddy

Union Minister Jaipal Reddy on Tuesday said the city had done extremely well due to the growth of the IT sector but this also was the main reason behind the huge traffic jams that people face every day.

Bangalore: Union Minister Jaipal Reddy on Tuesday said the city had done extremely well due to the growth of the IT
sector but this also was the main reason behind the huge
traffic jams that people face every day.

"... there are so many traffic jams in Bangalore because
the IT sector has done well," the Union Urban Development
Minister said in his address at the Business Standard
Infrastructure meet 2010 here.

The minister said such traffic congestions were natural
whenever development takes place in industries, modern
technology or spurt in the number of educational institutions.

"Bangalore is not only famous for IT (information
technology) but also for traffic jams," he quipped, adding,
"So, therefore, Bangalore needs metro rail transport more
urgently than other cities."

Reddy said the work on the first line of the Bangalore
metro rail would be completed by the year end.

Meanwhile, Reddy said the Central government will
consider including 28 new cities in the Jawaharlal Nehru
National Urban Renewal Mission, a city modernisation scheme of
the Centre.

These cities, including Hubli in Karnataka, have a
population of five lakh-plus as per the 2001 census, he said.

Currently, 65 cities are covered under the JNNURM which
was launched in 2005 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to
improve the quality of life and infrastructure in the cities.

Reddy said the number of people living in urban areas is
expected to go up to 800 million in India in the next 25 years
from the present 300 million.

PTI

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