'Close IT parks, allow remote work': Bengaluru techie urges govt to fix broken infra, netizens react

A techie from Bengaluru recently urged the Siddaramaiah government to temporarily shut down major IT parks in the city and work on fixing the metropolis's broken infrastructure. The techie, identified as Amarnath Shivashankar, said in his post on X (formerly Twitter) that employees working in these IT parks can work remotely just like they did during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

He added that employees working in these IT parks are losing productive hours during their commute. 

"When IT companies on the Outer Ring Road, ITPL, Electronic City, Manyata Tech Park, Bagmane Tech Park, etc., went completely remote for more than a year during COVID, they can do that again if the government mandates them to do so. Employees are losing productive hours during their commute," Shivashankar said. 

He further urged the Karnataka government to invoke the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and close IT parks temporarily.

"Invoke the BCP, close the IT parks for a few months, fix the roads and rain water drains, fix the broken infrastructure. Complete the flyover constructions, procure more BMTC buses, fast track the metro construction. Where there is a will, there is a way. Fix Bengaluru once for all."

His take left fellow social media users divided. "They won't because WFO was the demand of the real estate mafias. If companies go remote who will lease the costly infra and why will employees stay in B'luru with high cost of living," a user wrote. 

"That's not the point, government is not willing to fix things - Because it needs money to fix things and no vendor is ready to work with the current govt due to high possibility of not getting paid by the end of the project," a second user said. 

"Bengaluru’s traffic mess isn’t just about bad roads, it’s about a real estate cabal that can’t afford remote work. Hybrid models worked during the pandemic, but now vested interests call it “inefficient” just to justify their properties’ balance sheets. Office parks, rental empires, and complicit HRs have turned “return to office” into a "revenue protection plan". Until that collusion is broken, the city will stay broken and unmanaged," a third user wrote. 

"If there is a will, the issues can be fixed with IT parks and companies open... The IT parks or companies are at fault here," another user commented.