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Hinjewadi IT firms unable to reopen without travel permits, says association
Directives on starting firms not in unison, says Hinjewadi Industries Association
IT companies located in the massive Rajiv Gandhi Infotech Park at Hinjewadi are unable to function from their premises in spite of a partial relaxation announced by Pune divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar on Thursday.
Mhaisekar, on Thursday, had allowed the IT industries to function provided their employees resided temporarily within the IT Park premises at Hinjewadi. He had specified that no movement of employees would be allowed from the containment zones in the city and the companies would have to make on-campus arrangements for the stay of their essential staff.
The IT Park at Hinjewadi employs nearly two lakh people who reside mostly in the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic areas and accounts for an annual software exports of $5 billion (Rs 10,000 crore), according to the Hinjewadi Industries Association.
The lockdown in the whole of Pune has been enforced firmly by the district administration with a view to contain the spread of the Covid-19 disease. So far nearly 60 people have died of the disease in Pune as of April 23 with five wards, primarily in central Pune, being worst affected.
Reacting to the announcement, the Hinjewadi Industries Association (HIA), the umbrella body of software technology companies, said that it was difficult for IT firms to operate under the set conditions. has said that that the administration and the police directives on starting the software companies was not in unison which was making it difficult to restart the shutdown sector.
HIA’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Col ( retd ) Charanjeet Bhogal said, the police was not issuing travel permits to the staff even though the district administration had earlier said that IT firms would be exempted from the lockdown under essential services.
He said since employees could not travel from the containment zones in the city, the entire process of running operations was at a standstill. “The final call can be taken only after May 3 after taking into account the on the ground situation ,” Bhogal said.
MIDC’s Pune general manager Ajit Deshmukh also maintained that IT employees cannot travel outside their containment zones under the present circumstances. Things could normalise only after May 3 which is the last day of extended lockdown, he said.
