HYDERABAD: A couple of IT professionals in Hyderabad made frantic calls to their superiors on Wednesday morning stating that the owners of the hostels they reside in were asking them to vacate the premises in light of the Covid-19 outbreak. The owners told them that were following government orders.
Even worse, the IT professionals were given a short notice of barely 24 hours to vacate their rooms. Several employees staying in various hostels at SR Nagar, Ameerpet and Kukatpally say they too have been such notices to vacate their rooms. There is a perception that like student hostels, those for working professionals would also be shut.
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Some team leaders at IT offices approached the police about the same.
“Three colleagues from my team were directly affected. Their hostels located in SR Nagar were forcefully evicting them. I approached the Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad to look into the matter,” said RJS, an IT professional in Hyderabad.
The Society for Cyberabad Security Council also received multiple complaints through the night. The IT employees say if they are forced to vacate their rooms, they may not be in a position to work from home as several companies do not have such facilities. Hostel owners, meanwhile, stated that police had instructed them on Monday to shut them down and evict tenants.
“We read in newspapers and the police also made rounds in the area telling us to evict people. However, today police came and told us not to send away women employees. There is still no clarity on male employees,” added a hostel owner. Krishna Yedula, member of the core committee on Coronavirus advisory for the IT sector stated that DGP Telangana and Principal Secretary of IT, Jayesh Ranjan were appraised about the situation. An advisory has been issued and hostels for working professionals cannot be shut down.