Ranjani Madhavan By

Express News Service

A few Information Technology (IT) and Biotechnology (BT) companies have not asked their employees to work from home in Bengaluru despite the government's advisory following the coronavirus scare. This has left techies worried about their safety.

"For the sake of business continuity, we have been asked to come to office instead of working from home. Only some of the employees have got the option of working remotely. It depends on the kind of project we get," said a techie working in a tech park in North Bengaluru.

"The government has issued an advisory which companies can either choose to implement or not. It would have been better if the government ordered all companies to strictly allow work from home for the next one week. The numbers of COVID-19 patients are increasing day by day and it is worrying," he added.

Another employee of an IT company said, "Although my work can be done without having a face-to-face interaction, my company has asked us to report to work. Chip design does not always require us to be present at the office. Though we asked for it, the top management has not agreed to let us work from home temporarily."

"They have given us an alternate day holiday which is not going to help. The worst part is, some people have been given remote access facility with laptops from the company but even they are asked to come," the employee added," he added.

"There is a reason the government has asked to stay indoors and prevent socilaising. It is so that we can control our environment," said Dr Simi Sugathan, a public health scientist at a not-for-profit, Safety Monitor Research Foundation.

ALSO SEE: