With traffic moving slow along Commonwealth Games lanes from Monday, corporate houses in neighbouring Gurgaon and Noida have found workaround solutions to ensure their employees and business do not suffer.
Many offices have changed work timings keeping in mind expected traffic snarls on Delhi roads. “Shift timings were advanced by an hour to avoid traffic at peak hours from Monday to October 14.
Various departments in the organisation took a call on this after the Commonwealth Games traffic plan was released,” said Gayatri Iyer, a sales manager with a leading web applications provider who travels from South Delhi to Gurgaon. She did not face any traffic disruptions along National Highway-8 when she left for work around 6-30 a.m. and managed to reach office in a record 30 minutes.
“The office has provided pick up and drop facility for the period of the Games,” said Rakhi Sharma, who travels from Malviya Nagar to her financial services company office in Gurgaon. Many in her office also travel by car pools.
Another workaround has been to change only pick up timings for employees. “There was no change in shift timings, but pick up time for employees residing in Delhi was advanced by 45 minutes to an hour from Monday,” said Sakshi Khanna, a Lajpat Nagar resident who works for a software giant in Noida. She also said cabs were kept exclusively for Delhi employees while buses were provided for Noida residents.
There were others who foresaw traffic problems well in advance. “Traffic disruptions during trial runs gave us a clear picture of how things will be once Games-related activity began. So shift timings were changed from last week. Things have been pretty smooth so far,” said Manik Mehrotra, a financial consultant who travels from Dwarka to his office in Gurgaon.
Offices are also encouraging the use of public transport. “Special shuttles to and from the metro railway stations have been arranged by the office from Monday to October 15. These run every half an hour between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m.,” said Milan Mahajan, a Paschim Vihar resident who works with an information technology firm in Noida.
Though the solutions have worked so far, office-goers are bracing up for trouble ahead. “We are prepared to face greater traffic trouble on days when Games-related movement occurs on the route that leads to one of the venues in Gugaon,” said Ms. Iyer.
Anticipating such problems, some offices have offered employees the option to avail themselves of company accommodation or work from home whenever possible.
