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TCS employees hold candle light protest in Lucknow
The employees said they were not protesting against anyone, but were praying for the company to stay back in Lucknow as transfer of 2,000 employees will disturb 2,000 families of the state capital.
Employees of Tata Consultancy Services organised a candle light protest in front of their office in Vibhuti Khand, Gomti Nagar, here on Tuesday evening against the company’s decision to wind up its Lucknow operations. The employees sought to draw the state government’s attention to the matter in order to stop TCS from transferring all the staff of its Lucknow office to Noida where the company has rented a building for the next five years.
The employees said they were not protesting against anyone, but were praying for the company to stay back in Lucknow as transfer of 2,000 employees will disturb 2,000 families of the state capital.
Read more: Won’t let TCS pull out of Lucknow, says UP finance minister
The decision will not only have a financial impact but will also have social, emotional and career consequences for every individual, they said.
The TCS employees have demanded a meeting with chief minister Yogi Adityanath on the issue.
Deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma has assured the TCS employees that the government will do everything to stop TCS from leaving the state capital.
Sharma said, “The state government is in touch with the TCS top management. One of the top officials of the TCS is supposed to meet the chief minister soon.”
Sharma said the state government has offered all kinds of support, including a building for the company office to remain in Lucknow.
TCS officials refused to comment on talks between the company and the state government .
The TCS decision to leave Lucknow has stunned the BJP government which completed 100 days in office last month and claims to be improving conditions for investment in the state.
Read more: TCS to wind up Lucknow operations, company says no job loss
A protesting employee, who refused to be named, said: “Lucknow is on way to becoming the next information technology (IT) hub in Uttar Pradesh after Noida but if TCS shifts base to Noida, no company will opt to come to Lucknow as they will be sceptical of investing in the state capital. The exit of TCS will send a wrong signal to other software giants who were planning to set up base in Lucknow.”
The employees claimed the Lucknow centre was not incurring losses. Senior company officials wanted to justify their decision of renting a building in Noida which has a capacity of 5000 employees with most of it lying vacant, they said.
The lease of the TCS office was coming to an end in Lucknow, so the officials decided to shift all the employees to Noida without considering the impact of this decision, the protesting employees said.
