HYDERABAD: Gopikrishna Durgaprasad, a native of Vijayawada, committed suicide on Wednesday at Pune. An employee with the IT company Pitney Bowes at Pune, his suicide note cited the lack of job security and the fear of not being able to provide for his family members back home as the reasons for this drastic step.
A candlelight vigil was held at Mindspace in the memory of Gopikrishna and to bring into focus the lack of job security faced by middle class youth employed in the IT industry.
Gopikrishna had joined Pitney Bowes only three days back. Praveen Chandrahas, a member of the Forum of IT Professionals, said, “It is clearly stated that he committed suicide due to lack of job security and that can be seen after observing Gopikrishna’s career journey so far. From the details we have gathered it is seen that he has switched many jobs over the years in various metropolitan cities before finally settling down in Pune. He had joined this organisation only three days back. He might have had a panic attack about losing this job too as he had lost his jobs many times earlier.”
Over a hundred people attended the vigil especially IT employees who could relate to Gopikrishna’s fear of losing his job without a prior notice. IT professionals claim that the layoffs have been happening due to increasing IT automation.
