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Offices, industrial units witness thin attendance due to border sealing
Gurugram:
Gurugram:
With the state border with Delhi sealed, offices and industries in Gurugram saw thin attendance of workforce on Friday.
The Haryana government had re-ordered the restrictions on movement on Thursday following a spurt in Covid-19 positive case in Gurugram. Only those with movement passes and essential services would be allowed to cross the border. Earlier this month, the state government had restricted movement for the first time during the lockdown that began on March 25 to contain the spread of the disease. Last week, Gurugram Police said they would relax checking at the border and remove barricades during rush hours to prevent traffic jams.
On Friday, these jams were back. The sudden sealing came as a surprise to many who were forced to return as they did not have movement passes.
“Around half of our employees, from different departments, come from Delhi. Due to the sudden decision to block entry, a majority of them could not come and work has suffered. Client visits that were scheduled were also cancelled,” said a senior real estate professional, who preferred anonymity.
At two large commercial office buildings at Sohna Road and another at Hero Honda Chowk, the scene was similar.
“We are allowing only a third of our staff to work from these offices, but today only 18 to 20 per cent staffers could attend. All safeguards prescribed by the administration such as sanitisation, disinfecting the premises and temperature checks are religiously being followed,” said Kamaljeet Singh, senior vice president, Bestech that owns the buildings.
“Limited number of people were coming to work and they were mostly locals. However, those coming from Delhi are likely to face difficulty due to border sealing. Things would become clear in next few days,” said a spokesperson for Circle.Work, a co-working office space located at HUDA city centre.
Gurugram-based people who work in Delhi too were hit.
A senior DLF employee, who works at its office in Delhi said that he had to work from home due to curbs at the border. “My pass has expired and the Saral Haryana portal had no option on Friday to obtain a new one,” he said.
In Udyog Vihar, which is the industrial and office space hub of the city, many factory owners and senior professional had to miss work. “I have a unit in Udyog Vihar and another in Bahadurgarh and at both places entry was restricted for staff and vendors. I had to return from Sirhaul border and if this continues for some more days we don’t know how industry will run,” said Anurag Shokeen, managing director of a large garment unit, who lives in Delhi.
Ashok Kohli, president, chamber of industries, Udyog Vihar said that authorities must ease the restrictions on the borders else it would be difficult to run the factories and revive economy. “Many offices and factory units remained idle as staff could not reach Udyog Vihar,” he said.
