Karnataka govt asks IT firms to work from home till Dec 2022 to help cut traffic woes

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Photo (for illustrative purposes only): Reuters
Photo (for illustrative purposes only): Reuters

Bangalore - The letter has been sent to industry body Nasscom, which is expected to circulate the same to the concerned IT firms.

By Web report

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Published: Tue 24 Aug 2021, 11:48 AM

Last updated: Tue 24 Aug 2021, 12:11 PM

The government of Karnataka is advising some companies to extend a work-from-home arrangement to most of their employees up to December 2022 — only this time, it has nothing to do with the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the Times of India, the Department of Electronics, Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology has sent an advisory to IT companies and parks located along the outer ring road (ORR) in Bangalore in a bid to manage traffic better due to upcoming Metro works.


The letter has been sent to industry body Nasscom, which is expected to circulate the same to the concerned IT firms.

The Metro construction on ORR from Central Silk Board to KR Puram is expected to take up to two years.


“IT companies working from home in the pandemic situation provided some relief to traffic movement. However, with the starting of Metro construction, it would be extremely difficult to manage traffic on ORR, especially if IT companies resume work from offices... It would be greatly beneficial if IT companies on ORR extend the WFH option for most of their employees till December 2022,” read the letter.

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However, Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) commissioner V Manjula has said that the advisory has been misunderstood. “We will revise the advisory as we understand that it may be inadvertently perceived that we are suggesting that they work from home. The idea wasn’t that. It was to suggest they encourage employees to use various transport options like buses or cycle-towork that are available.”

Additional chief secretary EV Ramana Reddy has also stated that companies are "not mandated" to implement the advisory and are free to resume work from offices if necessary.


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