IT and ITeS companies in India’s Silicon Valley came to a standstill due to the dawn-to-dusk bandh against the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu. The main hubs for these companies — Whitefield, Koramangala, HSR Layout and Hebbal — saw a majority of companies closing their doors.
Many of these companies, however, are working on Saturday to compensate the loss. Speaking to DH, a representative of L&T Technology Services said the company had declared a holiday. “We have decided to work on Saturday to compensate for this leave,” said the communication head.
City-based IT companies like Infosys and Wipro closed shutters. While Wipro had already decided to work on Saturday, Infosys stated the company will work on the coming Saturday. Quikr, a cross-category classifieds platform too remained shut. “A few of our employees who are critical for our service came in and other employees worked from home. We will work next Saturday,” said a company official. UTC Aerospace Systems vice president Chris Rao said the company had declared a holiday and will work on Saturday. Philips Innovation Centre spokesperson, however, said the company remains closed on Saturday. “A few of our employees worked from home. We are not compensating for today’s closure and it will be closed on Saturday as usual,” said the spokesperson.
Manyata Technology Park witnessed untoward incidents in the morning as members of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike forced many offices to close down. According to an employee, “Some protesters barged in, but they didn’t damage anything. But, later the companies evacuated their employees.”
A few of the critical financial services companies instructed their staff to stay close to the campus in hotels. “Those who stayed near the campus came walking and it helped us run our operations,” said an official from a Europe-based financial service company. Bengaluru has around 20 lakh IT and ITeS workers.
Published 09 September 2016, 20:41 IST