My Voice: Views of our readers 27th April 2020

Save IT firms from going bankrupt

Apropos the news item 'IT companies begin to lay off staff to stay afloat' (April 23), it is high time that the Telangana government came out with a GO prohibiting any kind of layoffs and retrenchment of employees in IT as well non-IT establishments. Even though the Minister for IT, MA&UD, I&C, has rightly urged the companies to restrain from any job cuts and terminations vide his letter dated April 18, it was observed that many IT and non-IT companies including some major construction and infrastructure companies are resorting to retrenchment of employees in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic. From the viewpoint of companies too, it needs to be analysed as they are facing severe hardships in view of prevailing grim scenario of business with all the activities coming to a standstill, thus making it difficult for the companies even to disburse the salaries to their employees in time. The government, instead of urging the companies to take care of their employees with empathy and refrain from job cuts, they should come out with a concrete policy extending various incentives to all sectors of industries and establishments which also should include waiver of interests by banks, providing moratoriums for various loans taken from banks or institutions and tax benefits. Unless this kind of empathetic support is provided to companies, industries and establishments, it gets difficult for them to sustain and retain their employees. The companies may also resort to total closure of their industries and establishments due to burden of overhead costs if proper lifelines in the form of incentives and other benefits are not extended to save them from bankruptcy. The need of the hour is to frame and implement a robust policy by the Central and the State governments along with RBI to save the companies and industries by providing them the necessary financial support and succour so that they can overcome this crisis and retain employees.

Pradeep Kumar K, Hyderabad

Freezing of DA unjustifiable

The Central government's decision for freezing of dearness allowance to its employees, pensioners and jawans is not a wise decision. Already the Central government employees have contributed crores of rupees through there one day salary. Many employees have donated hefty amount to Prime Minister's fund. On one hand, the Modi government is asking State governments not to cut wages and salaries, and on other hand, the Central government itself is cutting DA to government employees. Due to this decision, a total of 113 lakh Central government employees will face financial crunch and hardship. Central government employees are serving the public by fighting coronavirus pandemic and instead of giving incentives, cutting DA is not justified. Especially pensioners who are more vulnerable to coronavirus, loss of their pension is irreparable. Salaried employees are middle class and cut in their pay is also not justified. The BJP government is continuing with the vanity projects such as new Parliament building, the Central Vista project, bullet train etc. the government should shelve all these projects. It should cut salaries of MPs, MLAs, Governors and members of Rajya Sabha. It should roll back its decision of freezing of DA.

Zakir Hussain, Kazipet, Telangana

When Mother Nature smiles

The lockdown is now in its fourth week, with severely restricting human activities across States, cities and districts. We have seen pictures and videos of the wildlife moving freely on empty urban landscapes. The Himalayan mountain ranges have become visible from Punjab and other northern Indian States. For nature lovers residing in heavily-polluted swathes, that's a dream come true. With the usual noise of traffic gone, chirping of birds has become more audible to the human ear than it was before the lockdown set in. A report last December by the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution found that India suffers from the most pollution-linked deaths in the world, amounting to an average of 2.3 million fatalities each year. Toxic air occupies a major chunk of India's overall pollution factor, which includes factory and vehicular emissions. But since the start of the lockdown, air-pollution levels have reduced drastically. Shall we say, corona is for good, in a way?

Sahithi Nomula, Pragathi Nagar, Hyderabad