Karnataka Govt Asks Bengaluru IT Firms To Extend Work From Home Till 2022: Here’s The Shocking Reason!

With offices starting to open up with 20% to 50% strength, companies at a certain location in the IT hub of the country, Bengaluru, are now advised to extend work from home for employees until the end of 2022.

In an advisory sent to industry body Nasscom by the Karnataka government, the latter mentions that due to ongoing Metro work, all the IT companies and parks located along Bengaluru’s Outer Ring Road (ORR) are advised to continue work from home for employees until December 2022.

This measure is considered to reduce congestion in the area, as the ORR region is known to have perennial traffic congestion, despite having 6 lanes and service roads.

In the letter sent by the Additional Chief Secretary of the Department of Electronics, IT & Biotechnology, it is clearly stated that the government is only suggesting the industry body to take such a step and companies located in the area are free to ignore this and continue working from office. It is only a suggestion.

KA Govt Advises Bengaluru Cos to Extend WFH

The construction work for Metro has started from Silk Board to KR Puram and KR Puram to the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, by the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL).

In order to reduce the traffic congestion amid the ongoing metro construction work, Additional Chief Secretary E V Ramana Reddy wrote a letter to the regional director of Nasscom, which reads, 

“We would like to bring to your notice that BMRCL is starting Metro construction works on Outer Ring Road (ORR) from Central Silk Board to KR Puram and construction of the same could extend to about 1.5 to 2 years. The ORR houses many large Tech Parks and IT company campuses and carries a large amount of traffic throughout the day.”

The commissioner of Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), V Manjula stated that the advisory may come off as an advice to extend work from home. Whereas, it is only a suggestion that the companies encourage employees to use various transport options like buses or cycle to work.

“It would be extremely difficult to manage traffic movement on ORR, especially if the IT companies resume work from the office,” added the letter.

Reddy stresses that the advisory was based upon the suggestions from the DULT and companies are free to resume work from offices if necessary.

The ORR stretch houses 9-10 tech parks with 700 to 800 companies. Over 1.5 lakh employees worked in the area before the pandemic.

Cos in ORR Stretch Wait for Advisory Revision

In response to the advisory sent by Reddy, the Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) consultant, Krishna Kumar Gowda has informed that they have asked the Government to revise the pointers of the advisory.

“We have requested the government to issue a revised advisory since many companies located on the ORR want their employees to work from office and the Metro work will only be completed in December 2025 according to BMRCL’s detailed project report (DPR),” stated Gowda.

The association currently awaits the revised advisory and comments that they will only respond on the same.