City IT firms caught in a web of fear

HYDERABAD: A sense of insecurity has gripped the IT industry and it does not have to merely do with terrorist strikes. Following two incidents of kidnapping in the last few weeks, the global headquarters of many IT companies are wanting to know whether the city is actually safe.
With elections being perceived to be close at hand, this feeling of insecurity is intensifying though the ripples of this are yet to reach the global headquarters.“Elections would mean that the law and order enforcement agencies will be lax. This will allow criminals to function. This is a cause of worry,” said an IT industry honcho.
Although a Cyberabad Security Council has been established in a private- public participation mode, this basically has a mandate to keep up surveillance of IT offices and prevent occurrence of terrorist strikes. “Kidnapping on the other hand takes place from near homes, schools and such places. These places are more vulnerable and may be outside Cyberabad,” sources said. It is understood that this concern arising out of instances of kidnapping has been conveyed by the industry to the state IT secretary.
A Satyam executive and a minor son of a techie couple were kidnapped recently in different incidents. Though the release of the two kidnapped were secured in a day’s time, techies seem not to be comforted.
“Suddenly we feel as if someone is tailing us or we worry whether our children are safe in school. Call it psychological if you like. But, the authorities are yet to give us any assurance that we are safe. This applies to any other citizen in the city and not just for techies,” Balaji, a senior executive in an MNC IT company, said. The pay pack in the IT industry have made several middle-class professionals join the ranks of the rich in the city. The changing lifestyles and the investments being made by techies seem to be drawing unwanted attention making them vulnerable. “The IT guys are the highest paid in the city and they are investing significantly in property and stock markets too. But, there are other rich people in the city too. One has to find out why the IT professionals become targets and not other rich guys,” Murali Krishna, another senior IT executive, said.
“Clients keep asking us about the safety factor in the city. Now, we are doing twice the amount of explanation about the city to the clients compared to any earlier situation,” A V Ramam, head of Invensys’s city operations, told TOI. He said the overall safety is the key issue the industry is finding hard to handle.
After the twin blasts and the flyover collapse, several companies are asking their operations heads to send across travel advisories to the executives coming to Hyderabad from various global offices. "We have to answer about 30 questions as part of our travel advisory protocol for every two days and send it across to all our offices across the globe. Overall, the impression about Hyderabad being a safe place for business has taken a beating," a logistics head of an MNC BPO said.