'Bengaluru IT companies should declare permanent WFH,' say netizens amid city's traffic problems

With Bengaluru's traffic problems hogging limelight for all the wrong reasons, netizens said till the issues plaguing the city are fixed, IT companies should declare permanent work from home.

On Wednesday, Bengaluru's tech hub, the Outer Ring Road (ORR), bore the brunt of the traffic congestion, with commuters reporting being stuck for over five hours.

Many frustrated commuters took to X to share their harrowing experiences. They advised fellow commuters to either stay back at their offices until 9 pm or avoid using routes such as ORR, Marathahalli, Sarjapura, and Silk Board. Some said it took them a massive five hours to travel 15 kms. Some people even claimed that a school bus dropped kids home from school at 8 pm, owing to massive traffic in Bengaluru, which was part of the reason for celebrated stand-up comedian Trevor Noah to cancel his shows in Bengaluru. 

Biocon's Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said Noah cancelling the shows is "a blot on Bangalore’s tech image".

Netizens said under such circumstances work from home is the best alternative for the 'Silicon Valley of India' even though moonlighting is the obvious concern.

"WFH works for both employees & employers. During Covid times, there were no issues around productivity, no client escalations too. In person collaboration is important & can happen for a day or two in a week," said an user of X (formerly Twitter). 

BJP's Tejasvi Surya said Congress government should get the Metro going on the Hoodi to Baiyappanahalli stretch. 

"Instead of waiting for some VIP to cut a ribbon and inaugurate, let’s throw open KR Pura-Baiyappanahalli line to commuters, say tomorrow?" said Surya on X. 

Urban expert RK Mishra told India Today, “It’s been five months since the Congress government took over. None of the development work has started as inquiries are being conducted on corruption charges against the previous government. Contractors are not being paid. Even potholes are not being filled.”

“The traffic issue can be solved via better public transport. But in Bengaluru, one cannot even walk to the bus stop due to the lack of proper footpaths. No roads are devoid of potholes in Bengaluru. All roads need to be reimagined,” he said.

With inputs from India Today