Bengaluru citizens threaten tax boycott over ‘poor infra’; DK Shivakumar says road work ‘progressing swiftly’

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Wednesday said the work of filling potholes and asphalting roads in Bengaluru is “progressing swiftly,” amid mounting anger over the city’s deteriorating infrastructure and a citizens’ threat to stop paying property tax.

In a post on X, Shivakumar wrote in Kannada, “Giving priority to smooth traffic in Bengaluru city, the work of asphalting roads at various places in the city and filling potholes is progressing swiftly.”

The assurance came as the Individual Tax Payers Forum, a citizens’ group representing income tax payers, wrote to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, urging the government to bar civic agencies from collecting property tax unless “good public infrastructure” was provided.

“The citizens and taxpayers are suffering immensely because of bad civic infrastructure planning by municipal authorities,” the forum said in the letter accessed by NDTV.

It cited “half-measured, unscientific and poorly coordinated” road and stormwater works in the Varthur–Balagere–Panathur stretch, arguing that the government was “wasting public funds and taxpayer contributions.”

The forum pointed to recent floods in the city and alleged that the authorities had “hastily started filling potholes and white-topping roads without completing the drainage network.” Such patchwork, it said, would only accelerate road deterioration.

Echoing the citizens’ concern, Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw once again flagged Bengaluru’s “dire situation,” blaming decades of neglect. “This government has the opportunity to change this and act fast to fix decades of deteriorating infrastructure and garbage management,” she posted on X.

In response, Shivakumar — who also handles the Bengaluru Development portfolio — maintained that the city deserved “collective effort, not constant criticism.”

The Deputy CM said over 13,000 potholes had already been filled, and he had directed officials to prepare a ₹1,100 crore action plan to upgrade 550 km of arterial roads across the city.

Other ministers, including Priyank Kharge and M B Patil, have also acknowledged the city’s crumbling infrastructure, saying long-term solutions would require both time and cooperation.

Bengaluru, once celebrated as India’s technology capital, is now battling an image crisis, with residents lamenting that it is increasingly being dubbed the “Pothole City” or “Garbage City.”