The Hindu Business Line : State-wide bandh today on Belgaum issue

, Business establishments, including technology firms, in Karnataka would largely remain closed on Wednesday on account of the State-wide bandh call given by pro-Kannada organisations over the Centre's step-motherly stand on the border-row with neighbouring Maharashtra on Belgaum.

The 12-hour dawn-to-dusk bandh has received wide support with about 800 organisations in the State, including all political parties supporting it.

IT firms have kept their clients informed and pro-actively declared a holiday on Wednesday. These firms would be operational over the weekend on Saturday to compensate for the loss of a working day. Infosys Technologies, Wipro, Satyam, IBM, Hewlett Packard, HCL Technologies and a host of other firms will remain closed on Wednesday.

Many of these firms have activated their business continuity programmes wherever required to support the critical functions of global clients to minimise the negative impact on their delivery.

However, the business process outsourcing firms plan to operate on Wednesday and many of them seem to have made arrangements like diverting calls to other centres within the country and overseas so that their operations are not impacted.

The TransWorks CEO, Mr Atul Kanwar, said the company has made adequate preparations to handle the bandh. "For our associates, necessary arrangements like hotel rooms and other essentials have been organised. We have also rescheduled movement of transport and additional transport vehicles have been pressed into service during the pre-and-post stoppage hours. We have also organised additional quantities of food, and medical supplies to suffice during this period."

24/7 Customer would be working with a lean staff on Wednesday. "We have taken necessary action to ensure that operations are not affected by moving volumes to our centres in Chennai and Hyderabad and our international centres. This has been done to ensure "safety and security of our employees. Our clients have been informed about the bandh and required contingency plans made to maintain business continuity," said Mr Pradeep Narayan, chief delivery officer, 24/7 Customer.