Sanitise offices, TS tells cos

Employees being crammed into cars, social distancing not maintained

The state government is yet to come up with a plan to help companies struggling due to the ongoing lockdown.

However, one seems to be on the way. IT and Industries Secretary Jayesh Ranjan on Friday announced that the government has received suggestions from trade bodies and companies regarding the kind of assistance they require.

“We are collating information on what other states and the Centre are doing to help the companies. We will take this data along with the suggestions we have received and review them soon,” he said.

Mr Ranjan was speaking in a “webinar” alongside Cyberabad Police Commissioner V.C. Sajjanar and state Director of Public Health G. Srinivasa Rao on the Covid-19 lockdown.

The senior bureaucrat said that the government was keen on helping companies in terms of not just concessions or waivers, but also to smoothen their logistics and supply chains. “For instance, a few manufacturing companies

in our state manufacturing sanitizers are not able to source raw material from Gujarat. So we have spoken to the Gujarat government for the same,” he said.

Mr Ranjan also commented on the work-fromhome option being given

to IT employees. He reiterated that companies could decide for themselves on the matter. “However, the employees themselves are asking for it. As per the latest reports I have seen, 95 per cent of IT employees in the city, who number over five lakh, are

working from home,” he said.

However, Mr Ranjan added that the remaining five per cent needed to be given sanitary transport and workplace facilities.

“We saw that some of these employees had to

cram themselves in cars and buses to reach their office. This is not right since it violates the social distancing protocol. So we have asked these companies to make sure they offer proper transport and sanitise their workplaces regularly,” he said.