A Bengaluru-based entrepreneur has called out the city’s worsening traffic situation, saying his daughter was stuck for two hours on Varthur Road yesterday. Ritish Reddy, the co-founder and CEO of Zluri, shared a video of the traffic jam that stretched for several kilometres in the Varthur-Gunjur area on September 17.
Reddy was one of several concerned parents who called for better traffic management in the IT hub of India. Many have launched petitions after yesterday’s incident, when schoolchildren were stuck for two hours or more due to traffic congestion on Varthur-Gunjur road.
(Also read: ‘2 km took 2 hours’: Bengaluru parent raises concern over daughter’s school bus stuck in Varthur traffic)
According to a report in The Hindu, Bengaluru Traffic Police sources attributed the jam to ongoing infrastructure work in the area.
What Bengaluru CEO posted
As the traffic gridlock escalated yesterday, Zluri CEO Ritish Reddy took to the social media platform X to share a critical post. He claimed that schoolchildren regularly spends two hours in traffic every day to cover a stretch of just 5 km.
“2+ hours. Every single day. That's how long kids from Whitefield spend on Varthur Road for a 5km commute,” Reddy wrote on X.
{{/usCountry}}“2+ hours. Every single day. That's how long kids from Whitefield spend on Varthur Road for a 5km commute,” Reddy wrote on X.
{{/usCountry}}“My own daughter is stuck right now as I post this. Whitefield deserves better than this,” he said.
Reddy was not alone in raising concerns about the worsening traffic. X user Hari said his daughter’s school bus took two hours to travel just 2 km. He described the experience from a parent’s perspective, saying, “For those 2 hours, I sat there as a parent feeling completely helpless.”
Hari said he and his wife pay “lakhs in taxes every month” and had taken a large home loan partly to live close to their daughter’s school and give her a safer and easier childhood.
“And yet, this is what ‘2 km from school’ means here,” he wrote.
Internet weighs in
“Varthur–Gunjur has a large IT-working population and contributes significantly through income tax and other taxes, yet basic infrastructure remains so poor,” wrote one X user under Reddy’s post.
(Also read: Bengaluru woman takes nearly 3 hours to commute from Electronic City to Whitefield: ‘How do people step outside?’)
“Bangalore needs anti encroachment drive more than infrastructure. Every road turns narrow because unauthorised extension of houses beyond the land they own,” another person opined.
“You can be a founder, CTI, Cxo, billionaire, common person or beggar. Bengalooru traffic and road doesn’t care - it’s a great leveller or equaliser!” an X user quipped.