By IANS
Kolkata : Tremors of the Nandigram violence were felt at West Bengal’s IT hub in Salt Lake here Monday as most companies either switched off their operations or transferred it elsewhere in view of the shutdown called by opposition parties.
Wipro Technologies shut down operations for the day while Tech Mahindra shifted their BPO operations for the next 48 hours to Noida near New Delhi.
“The shutdown has affected the state’s IT sector. There has been a mixed response in IT companies at Sector V in Salt Lake. In some offices, the attendance is very low,” West Bengal IT secretary Siddharth told IANS.
“Our officials are now collecting data from all IT companies to find out about their total attendance,” he added.
Congress and Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) have called a 24-hour shutdown against the violence in Nandigram in East Midnapore district, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called for a 48-hour shutdown.
Trinamool Congress started its indefinite “immobilisation” programme from Monday.
“The violence in Nandigram is definitely a cause for concern for us. The situation appears to be really bad. It will have an effect on the emerging IT industry,” National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) vice-president Ganesh Natarajan told IANS.
“Strike is a fundamental form of protest. But it’s very unfortunate that life has come to a standstill and economic activities have been affected. Somebody should delve into the root of the problem and try to sort things out,” he added.
About 22 IT companies in Sector V, the only IT hub in West Bengal, participated in a meeting Sunday to decide how to run operations Monday during the shutdown.
“There’s hardly 10-30 percent attendance in all IT companies at Sector V. It’s not possible for us to bring all the employees to office if the entire government machinery stops functioning. There’s no public transport available,” DESCON managing director Somesh Dasgupta pointed out.
“We are very upset that the IT sector has been affected because of the strike. The industry could face a setback because of this,” he added.
“Incidentally, we are closed today as part of the 12 holidays we provide during the year. We have somehow managed to keep our call centre operational,” Dasgupta said.
The shutdown has been called by all opposition parties in West Bengal to protest the ongoing “invasion” of Nandigram by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) cadres, who allegedly fired on a peaceful procession taken out by villagers Friday, killing at least two and leaving several injured.
The violence in Nandigram has claimed 34 lives since January this year when the region flared up over proposed land acquisition for a special economic zone. The state government later announced shifting the site in the face of stiff local resistance.