Hyderabad IT firm staff to stay back in office during rains

IT companies in Hyderabad, have decided to go for a staggered exit timings after office hours during heavy rains to avoid traffic gridlocks.

The idea is to avoid a repeat of last week’s traffic jam when after a downpour, the Madhapur IT hub and surrounding areas saw severe traffic jam, with lakhs of vehicles stuck for over six hours.

With the worst yet to come in the rainy season, the IT industry, traffic police and civic authorities have decided to do something about it.

Though the companies are not considering any change in timings, they will build IT-enabled real-time communication systems to alert their employees about possible downpours.

“We will encourage staff to stay back in office an hour or two to avoid being stuck in waterlogged roads. An hour in the office, perhaps, will save them a couple of hours in the traffic jam,” Murali Bollu, President of Hyderabad Software Exporters Association (HYSEA).

“The number of IT employees has doubled to five lakh from 2.5 lakh four years ago. Obviously, the number of two-wheelers and four-wheelers too must have increased. This is adding up to the problem, particularly after a heavy downpour,” he said.

The association represents hundreds of small and big IT firms, which total exports of ₹1.20 lakh crore.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) Commissioner Dana Kishore convened a series of meetings with Cyberabad police, HYSEA and National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) to find ways to avoid a repeat last week’s situation.

Though the city has over 4,500 km of roads, about 75 per cent of the traffic burden is reported on a stretch of 1,500 km. The number of vehicles in the city is put at 26.5 lakh, and increasing 11 per cent every year.

WhatsApp networks

The GHMC will establish a WhatsApp or other IT-backed communication network, roping in facility managers of IT companies in the IT hub, traffic police and other stakeholders.

“Based on Indian Meteorological Department’s advisory, the GHMC will send alerts to the facility managers 24 hours ahead of a possible heavy rain. This will be followed up by a second message two hours before the likely downpour. They, in turn, will alert their employees,” Murali said.

The GHMC and traffic police are targeting companies with more than 2,000 employees, particularly during 4-6 pm.

“We are taking up a number of road infrastructure projects in and around the IT hubs at a cost of ₹25,000 crore under Strategic Road Development Programme. They are in various stages of completion and we expect them to be ready in two years,” Dana Kishore told a stakeholders’ meeting.

“Till they become available, we need to find ways to address the problem. From our end, we have identified a few dozen spots that get water logged where we will use pumpsets to pump out flood waters,” he said.

The IT industry feels that the problem needs to be tackled fast. “It is expected that the number of IT employees would double again to 10 lakh in the next five years,” Murali said.