Biocon chief questions source of reports claiming that she had offered to repair roads in Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Oct 22 (PTI) Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw on Wednesday questioned the source of reports claiming that she had offered to repair roads in Bengaluru.

She expressed amusement at what she termed "fabricated news." Shaw was responding to a news article about former Union Minister P Chidambaram’s post on 'X', in which he noted with interest her supposed offer to fund the development of some roads in Bengaluru and highlighted execution issues in public works.

"Kiran Shaw offers to fund Bengaluru road repair, P Chidambaram responds. I am watching with amusement how the media fabricates news. Please ask them to share their source of this info about my offer to repair roads," she posted on 'X'.

Shaw has been critical of Bengaluru’s infrastructure issues on social media and has repeatedly urged the state government to intervene.

On Tuesday, she met Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar to greet them on the occasion of Deepavali and assured her cooperation for Bengaluru’s development.

Earlier, Chidambaram had posted, "I noted with interest Mrs Kiran Mazumdar Shaw's offer to fund the development of some roads in Bengaluru. A great offer! Congratulations." He added, "The problem with our public works is not the lack of public money; the problem is in the execution of the work." Chidambaram suggested that governments could tweak Shaw’s idea, with public funds and tenders used to select contractors, who would then work under the supervision of a willing company or industrialist.

"The contractor will execute the public work, say a road. However, the supervising company or industrialist will be responsible for the quality and timely execution of the work. Any penalties or cost overruns will be borne by the supervising company or industrialist," he said.

He added that Chennai or Bengaluru could be suitable locations to pilot the idea, tagging Shivakumar and Tamil Nadu CM M K Stalin in his post. PTI KSU SSK KH