``The lack of sufficient direct flights into Bangalore causes many business travelers to avoid Bangalore,'' said Anees Ahmed, head of Mistral Software, a Bangalore-based company.
Some officials blame infrastructure problems on a rapid population increase that came with the booming job market. Bangalore's population grew 42 percent between 1981 and 2001.
Without a functioning public transportation system, Bangalore's citizens rely on motor scooters and unbalanced, three-wheeled motorized rickshaws. They are also buying more cars, adding to the 1.8 million vehicles that already jam roads.
Baindur, of the Civic group, said the city's newly built highway bridges and circular roads -- meant to bypass traffic congestion points -- were badly planned and ended up creating jams at crossroads. Wider routes lead to narrow ones, where traffic gets choked.
Meanwhile, digging by telephone companies and battering by rains create potholes that don't get patched. Widening roads and creating additional parking spaces narrow sidewalks, where overflowing garbage cans and drainage pipes already reduce space for pedestrians.
Despite the city's high-tech reputation, technological infrastructure can also be lacking.
Visitors to conventions and exhibitions find breakdowns in Internet service, scarcity of telephones and power outages at the media centers.
At the national air show this February -- held at Bangalore's small airport -- 300 journalists were accredited, but officials provided only four computers. On the day French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin was the chief guest, Internet facilities at the media center failed.
With a population of 53 million, Karnataka state has only about 6,000 megawatts of power generation capacity, or 1,200 megawatts less than what it needs. Karnataka depends on hydroelectric power stations, which don't have enough water in the summer.
California has 10 times the electric capacity for its 35 million people, leading to questions about whether Bangalore can justify its claims to be the ``Silicon Valley of India.''
``From the infrastructure viewpoint,'' Baindur said, ``you can't.''
On the Net:
Bangalore's IT department: http://www.bangaloreit.com
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