BENGALURU, India — The government of the Indian state Karnataka on Aug. 24 urged I.T. companies of the state to extend the work from home option for employees to December 2022, keeping in view traffic congestion on Outer Ring Road in the capital city, Bengaluru, due to the metro construction work.
“BMRCL (Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited) is starting metro construction works on Outer Ring Road (ORR) from Central Silk Board to K.R. Puram and the construction of the same could extend to about 1.5 to 2 years,” the Department of Electronics, Information Technology said in its letter to the National Association of Software and Service Companies.
“The ORR houses many large Tech Parks and I.T. Company campuses and carries a large amount of traffic throughout the day. Despite having six lanes and service roads, the ORR is infamous for its perennial traffic congestion.”
The Karnataka government said that in the Covid-19 pandemic situation, I.T. companies working from home provided some relief to traffic movement on the Outer Ring Road.
However, with the start of metro construction on Outer Ring Road, it would be tough to manage traffic movement, especially if the I.T. companies resume work from the office.
“Karnataka govt wants I.T. firms along ORR to extend WFH until the metro work is completed. Note that they haven’t completed the Ejipura flyover even after four years! Bengaluru administration is a mess!” said columnist Kishore Narayan in a tweet.
The state government said it had taken some measures by implementing Bus Priority Lanes (BPL) and safe cycle lanes to provide alternate options for the mobility of people working or passing through ORR.
“In addition to these measures to promote mass transit and cycling as an alternate option to commute on ORR, it would be greatly beneficial if the I.T. companies especially located in ORR, would extend the work from home option for most of the employees till December 2022, and/or the I.T. parks/companies may be advised to stagger the working hours for those employees working physically at the office,” the state government said.
“The I.T. workforce, who need to attend office physically, are encouraged to take buses (BM’l’C/Company) as these buses travel on BUS lanes.”
“We request you to circulate this advisory to I.T. companies located on ORR so that infrastructure development activities are carried out smoothly, which would also ease out traffic congestion in the future,” the state government said.
“Looks like Karnataka govt also in favor of WFH model! I have been working remotely since May 2020. I think still we need to figure out how to manage professional and personal life in a better way. Apart from this, I don’t see any other issue,” tweeted Sanjeev Kumar, User Growth officer, Dunzo.
(With inputs from ANI)
Edited by Saptak Datta and Praveen Pramod Tewari
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