‘Very hard to continue here’: Blackbuck to exit Bengaluru ORR; CEO Rajesh Yabaji cites potholed roads, poor infra

Online trucking platform Blackbuck’s co-founder and chief executive officer Rajesh Yabaji on Tuesday announced that the company is moving out of its Bellandur office in Bengaluru’s Outer Ring Road (ORR), citing poor road infrastructure and daily commuting challenges.

“ORR (Bellandur) has been our “office + home” for the last 9 years. But it’s now very-very hard to continue here. We have decided to move out,” Yabaji said in a post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

CEO cites poor road conditions

According to Yabaji, the decision to relocate was driven by multiple factors, such as the difficulty of commuting for the company’s employees, poor road conditions, and the lack of scope for change.

He highlighted the following issues in the post:

– Average commute for my colleagues shot up to 1.5+ hrs (one way)

– Roads full of potholes & dust, coupled with lowest intent to get them rectified

– Didn’t see any of this changing in the next 5 years

Although the chief executive did not mention the new location in the post, an X user said that the company’s new location might be SEZ Devanahalli, which is located in the northern part of Bengaluru.

Netizens react

Many netizens and executives from other firms responded to Yabaji’s post, mostly hailing his decision and sharing similar experiences with Bengaluru’s roads.

Shortly after Yabaji’s post, former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai wrote on X, “Big big failure of governance in Bengaluru,” tagging Bengaluru Development Minister and Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, adding, “Please see, cos are moving out of ORR. Situation beyond hope. Please intervene.”

Reposting Pai’s post, Biocon founder Mazumdar-Shaw said, “This is serious. Emergency measures needed to fix these issues.”

One X user commented, “Great decision. Plus real estate is massively overvalued in that entire stretch. Builders are asking more than the current prices of Chicago and Dubai for the infrastructure of Somalia.”

Another person also highlighted over-crowding in Bengaluru as the cause of congestion. “Like any human body can accommodate only so much of food before it becomes obese & sick, any city can accommodate only so many people & industries before it becomes unmanageable. Instead of trying to achieve the impossible with Bengaluru, incentivise Tier 2 cities of Karnataka.”

Bengaluru’s infrastructure woes

Built in the late 1990s, Bengaluru’s Outer Ring Road was constructed to link the city to major highways and divert heavy vehicles. It was not designed for residential and office traffic. However, most technology firms went on to set up their expansive offices in the surrounding areas of ORR, which include Whitefield, Sarjapur, Marathahalli and Bellandur — leading to increased traffic of officegoers.

People residing in Bengaluru have previously reported similar issues related to poor road infrastructure and traffic. In July, the co-founder of EaseMyTrip, Prashant Pitti, experienced road congestion in Bengaluru, causing him to be stuck for over two hours in traffic. Post that incident, Pitti pledged ₹1 crore to identify choke points and help address the issue.