Get the traffic running smoother or else we will move to Tier-II cities – that’s the message sent across to Chennai Traffic authority by the major two IT companies – Wipro and Infosys. The senior officials from these companies have strongly expressed their concerns over the over-crowded traffic in the down south.

While speaking to the media, the Chief Information officer at Wipro Technologies, Laxman K Badiga clearly stated that the company might expand faster in tier-II locations like if they observe no change in the Chennai infrastructure. Badiga is also a member of Tamil Nadu IT task force.

Apart from Infosys and Wipro, other big names in IT like TCS and Cognizant have also contributed to a considerable extent in fulfilling Chennai’s IT dreams by expanding their operations. As a result, workforce has also increased considerably.

Wipro has huge hiring plans in Chennai but it’s now saying that the company will observe the traffic conditions before proceeding with its big plans for Chennai. Wipro has already planned a Coimbatore set-up of 10-12 acres of land where it would house 10,000 employees.  Wipro may soon come up with plans to recruit for its Coimbatore set-up instead of Mahindra City SEZ if they find no improvement in the transport facilities in Chennai. It  may go to Coimbatore instead of hiring to capacity at Mahindra City, if the traffic situation does not improve.

Around 12,000 employees are based in six Chennai Wipro locations. The proposed Wipro facilities at the Sholinganallur-Elcot Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and Mahindra City SEZ are in under-construction phase and expected to house 35,000 seats on completion.

The employees at Elcot SEZ regularly get stuck in mad traffic near Sholinganallur junction and that too during peak hours.

The Wipro vice-president and location head, Chandrasekar Dharuman told TOI that commuting on the IT Corridor had become difficult during peak hours. Moreover, chaotic ongoing construction activities like road repairing and road widening make life even more horrible for the commuters.

The other SEZ, Mahindra City also offers worst possible infrastructure to the IT professionals with poor road condition, absence of railway links and peak-hours mad traffic. X