Group captain Shukla joked that his commute from Marathahalli to the prime venue at the Bangalore International Exhibition Center – a 34km commute that normally takes more than an hour – took three times longer than his scheduled speech.
“I come all the way from the other side of Bengaluru, Marathahalli. I have spent three times the time I am going to spend with you on this presentation. So you have to look at the dedication I have,” said a smiling Shukla as the audience laughed.
In July, Shukla created history when he became the first Indian astronaut to set foot on the International Space Station (ISS) in July. He was the second Indian after astronaut Rakesh Sharma to go into space after 41 years.
Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge later responded to Shukla’s witty comment and said the state government would ensure that such delays do not repeat.
“Shubhanshu Shukla said it was easier for him to come to Bengaluru from space, but to get to this location from Marathahalli was difficult,” Kharge said in his closing address.
Shukla’s joke assumes significance as it took place against the backdrop of a controversy over the tunnel road project proposed by the Karnataka government in a bid to ease traffic congestion in Bengaluru.
TRAFFIC IN BENGALURU IS DETERIORING
According to the Bengaluru Traffic Police’s congestion heat map for June 2025, the average daily traffic jam length was 189.6 kilometers. More recently, the average one-way travel time has increased by 16 percent in just one year, from 54 minutes in 2024 to 63 minutes for an average distance of 12 miles. This means that people lose approximately 117 hours per year during rush hour.
In the first six months of 2025, Bengaluru added over three lakh new private vehicles to its roads, of which 49,620 were registered in June alone, the state transport department said. The increase is particularly worrying as these figures do not take into account vehicles registered in other districts and states but regularly used in Bengaluru, making the actual number significantly higher.
If current monthly trends continue, Bengaluru is on track to add more than five lakh private vehicles by mid-2026, the transport department said. The city now has a vehicle density of 823 vehicles per kilometer between 2024 and 2025, compared to 761 vehicles per kilometer the year before.
– Ends
(with inputs from PTI)
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