Karnataka govt issues clarification after IT professionals express concern over 'Work From Home advisory'

After Techies and IT Professionals expressed their concern and questioned the government's decision of advising IT companies located on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) to extend the 'Work from Home' option till next December 2022 due to Namma Metro work on the stretch, the government has said the earlier communication was just an advisory.

E.V. Ramana Reddy, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Electronics, IT, BT & Science and Technology had issued an advisory to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) on August 21. It was requested to the IT companies operating in the surrounding areas of Outer Ring Road (ORR) extend the Work From Home (WFH) period till December next year.

The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) is commencing work on ORR from Central Silk Board to KR Puram soon. It could take at least 2 years for completion of work.

However, the request from the government did not go well with IT professionals. They have tagged IT Minister CN Ashwath Narayan with the newspaper clippings and questioned why 18 months lockdown period was not utilised to take up Namma Metro work.

Ramana Reddy addressed another letter to the Regional Director of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) stating that the earlier communication was just an advisory.

The IT professionals have questioned that they wanted to return to work as it was almost one-and-a-half years since they attended work. The COVID rate is going down in the state, even high schools are open. The BMRCL must have utilised the lockdown period of the last 18 months when the road was deserted for construction work, they said.

After the protest, the government-backed off from the proposal and assured completion of Namma Metro work in the stipulated time.

As many as 1.5 lakh IT professionals work in about 800 companies located on Outer Ring Road (ORR) stretch in Bengaluru.