UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya and director Ravi Nedungadi in Calcutta on Wednesday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, Sept. 21: All these years, Calcutta and the state have been projected as lacking in infrastructure facilities, while Bangalore has been touted as the only global city in the country.

However, with winds of change blowing in Bengal, industry leaders have woken up to the turnaround in the state.

“I am very impressed with the improved conditions of Bengal and Calcutta. The state is becoming an attractive investment destination,” UB Group chairman Vijay Mallya said.

“I will mention about the improvements in Bengal at various forums, both at home and abroad,” he said. “I am more overwhelmed with the improvements in the city as I grew up here and am considered a paarar chhele,” he added.

On the other hand, he deplored the crumbling infrastructure of Bangalore and asked the government to take swift action. “Being a Bangalorean myself, I am pretty ashamed of the state of affairs,” he said.

According to media reports, Mallya recalled that when he landed in Hong Kong on September 14, he got hold of an international newspaper that carried a front-page article damning Bangalore's infrastructure.

UB Group has also slapped a claim of Rs 15 crore on the Karnataka government, blaming it for the Elevated Rail Transport System (ELRTS) fiasco. The claim is towards the cost and investment incurred by the group towards the project.

The company has termed the abandonment of the ELRTS project as a failure of the government, which did not come up with its share of equity capital and the final guarantees, despite imposing an additional levy on vehicles to mop up the necessary funds. Mallya had said they have written to the government asking for reimbursement of all costs and expenses.

Wipro chairman Azim Premji had also expressed similar views on Bangalore, terming it as a “national calamity” in terms of infrastructure, while praising Bengal for doing much better than other states. He expressed his pleasure with the company’s operations in the state.

“Its efforts should be replicated by the Centre. It is an irony that the same party at the Centre is stuck in political rhetoric, while in the state it is doing an excellent job,” he had said in media reports.

Premji had also said Bengal, under the able leadership of a pragmatic chief minister, is poised to make a true economic breakthrough in recovering its leadership position with so much knowledge, talent and potential.

He also reassured that Wipro will back the state in its IT endeavours, as the company believes that the state has much more to contribute towards the national economy and growth.