Hyderabad: Roads running through Hyderabad’s IT Corridor have been logjammed for the past two days due to incessant rains and subsequent waterlogging, leaving techies in the lurch, as most companies failed to declare a holiday or allow work-from-home.
“Most companies have shifts that are between 9 am and 5 pm, while there are some B and night shifts. Everybody reaches and leaves around the same time from an area that houses so many IT companies, leaving the roads congested even on a normal day. With the many bottlenecks, owing to U-turns, the rain has only made things worse. The area doesn't even have a good drain system, leading to ugly scenarios often,” said Lakshmi Lavanya, who works with a leading IT firm.
Employees of companies that do not offer transport facilities suffered the most.
“Even those of us who travel on scooters or bikes can’t use them due to rains, while auto and cab fares are nowhere less than a ₹700-1,000 for a 10-km ride. Even then, most drivers call and demand a higher fare because they know the desperate condition we are in,” said Asher Joy, a programme manager at an IT company.
Many argued that despite requests, organisations refused to declare a holiday or allow work-from-home.
“We already have a hybrid system... It makes no sense to spend so much money, time and effort when we could easily deliver what we can, from home,” said Abhishek T.
A senior manager of an IT company said that the problem lay with people in leadership positions, as they were unable to take a call due to their higher-ups operating from other countries.
“They need to be able to exercise discretion in times of such emergencies,” she said.
Meanwhile, a few employees took to carpooling and other means to figure out a way to reach home. Renting cars was a popular choice, followed by shared cab rides.
“Even the Metro is heavily crowded and buses are infrequent. The one or two buses that came last night were stuck in the same traffic for two hours,” said Vinay Kumar B., a city-based techie.
