Chennai: Factories and offices in Chennai reduced or stopped operations while some shifted work to other centres, as the flooded city on 1 December received over 272 mm of rainfall in 12 hours.
The IT and automobile industry has been particularly hit by the record north-east monsoons. Old Mahabalipuram Road in southern Chennai houses most of the IT companies in the city, while BMW India Pvt. Ltd, Ford India Ltd and Infosys Ltd located on the GST Road are struggling with the deluge as the Veerapuram lake in the vicinity is overflowing.
Industrial units in Ambattur, which came to a halt during the last spell of rains, have been shut down since Tuesday. The India Yamaha Motor Pvt. Ltd’s two-wheeler plant at Oragadam was shut after 3pm on Tuesday. Ford, BMW and Renault India Pvt. Ltd have halted production due to rains, while Hyundai Motor India Ltd said in an internal announcement on 1 December that the night shift that started at 12am and the 2 December morning shift at 7am have been suspended.
While auto companies have shut their factories, IT companies have shifted employees to other locations or are getting other centres to pitch in as part of their business continuity plans.
“For some critical projects, our Bangalore office and colleagues from other locations have started supporting us since yesterday (Tuesday),” said Pavithra, an employee at Hewlett Packard Global Soft Pvt. Ltd’s Olympia Tech Park branch. The company has also provided accommodation for stranded employees.
At Accenture Plc, some employees had already shifted to Bengaluru during the last rains. Its Perungalathur branch in Chennai is closed since Tuesday. “By the time official information was out on Tuesday, most of the employees had reached office and were transported back to their residence. Though there were proper arrangements made to get back home, the roads were flooded and it took almost eight hours for me to reach home,” said an employee at this branch.
Cognizant had also sent some employees to other locations during the last week, anticipating heavy rains in Chennai. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) partially shut some of its offices in Chennai in the afternoon on Tuesday and employees were transported home.
A TCS statement on 1 December said: “Due to unprecedented rains in Chennai, our offices will remain closed tomorrow (2 December). Please note that the following offices will be completely shut down on Wednesday and will not be operational. Habibullah road office, ILP centre in Karapakkam and Velachery Delivery Centre. In case of any critical projects and 24x7 support, skeletal support will be provided in all the other delivery centres. Associates from these projects are requested to check before taking a decision.”
“Natco Pharma Ltd’s operations at Chennai have been temporarily suspended due to flooding,” said an official statement from the company in an NSE filing.
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