Report to work without virus fear, techies told

IT and Industries Secretary, Jayesh Ranjan, and Cyberabad Police Commissioner, VC Sajjanar, on Wednesday appealed to the people from the city not to get carried away about reports on Covid-19, and its reported effect on the IT sector.

Addressing a crowded press conference, Mr Ranjan said many IT companies were unnecessarily in panic, and creating confusion by asking their employees to leave office and work from home. He added that the case pertaining to a DSM employee that created panic was not confirmed.

“The samples, according to our tests here, showed a borderline case. We have sent them to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune. We will get a clear picture on Thursday when the results come to us,” he said. Sajjanar said, “There are multiple reports which suggest Mind-space has been evacuated fully. This is not true. Only one building, Building 20, has been evacuated. Once the building is sanitised properly, employees can return to work.”

They stated that Sajjanar’s office would be the nodal agency, where companies are required to ask before taking such measures in the future. They said that companies would be told to check with the commissioner’s office whether they could order the evacuation. The Society for Cyberabad Security Council (SCSC) would work closely with the companies to educate them on these matters, they said.

Mr Ranjan, referring to the DSM employee’s case, admitted that it was logical to take precautionary measures by sanitising the building. However, the idea that all of Mindspace’s buildings need to be evacuated is unnecessary, he said.

“The spouse of this particular employee works in Duff and Phelps in Purva Summit Mindspace. The office has since been evacuated. But some other offices in this building too have been evacuated. This was unnecessary,” he said. Ranjan added that they had talks with executives of DSM and Duff and Phelps.

“We have asked them to return to work tomorrow. Only those who were in direct contact with the affected woman and her husband may work from home for two weeks. The rest can report to their respective offices as usual,” he said.