The Karnataka government has asked IT companies to extend the work from home option for employees till December next year to solve traffic congestion on Outer Ring Road due to the Bengaluru metro construction work.
In a letter to the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), the Department of Electronics, Information Technology said that IT companies' Work From Home policy provided relief to traffic movement on Outer Ring Road (ORR).
However, the state government added that it would be difficult to manage traffic if IT companies allow employees to resume work from offices. The government said metro construction work on ORR would already lead to heavy traffic congestion.
"BMRCL is starting metro construction works on Outer Ring Road (ORR) from Central Silk Board to KR Puram and the construction of the same could extend to about 1.5 to 2 years. The ORR houses many large Tech Parks and IT Company campuses and carries a large amount of traffic throughout the day. The ORR despite having six lanes and service roads is infamous for its perennial traffic congestion," the Karnataka government said in its order.
Karnataka government added that it had provided measures like implementing Bus Priority Lanes (BPL) and safe cycle lanes as an alternate option for the mobility of people working or passing through ORR.
"In addition to these measures to promote mass transit and cycling as an alternate option to commute on ORR, it would be greatly beneficial if the IT companies especially located in ORR, would extend the work from home option for most of the employees till December 2022, and/or the IT parks/companies may be advised to stagger the working hours for those employees working physically at the office," it said in a letter.
The state government urged IT companies to continue work from home so that infrastructure development activities are carried out smoothly, which would also ease out traffic congestion in future.
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