Salt Lake stakeholders’ body to take up security concerns of techies

In a bid to maintain the reputation of Salt Lake as being one of the safest IT hubs in the country, the Sector V Stakeholders’ Association has decided to urge IT and ITeS companies to ensure that their employees feel comfortable enough to discuss their troubles with the human resource (HR) officials even if it is not related to the office.

The matter will be discussed in the forthcoming meeting of the association to take various precautionary steps to avoid incidents like the one in Pune where Antara Das – a techie from Sarsuna near Behala – was stabbed to death while returning from her office.

The association would approach the state government and Bidhannagar City Police if they need any assistance for the same.

Bratya Basu, the state IT minister, said: “It is not that we are taking steps only after the incident that took place in Pune. Issues like ensuring best security arrangement in the IT hub were already discussed with the police and there has been constant surveillance so that no untoward incident takes place. I welcome suggestions from representatives of IT industries and would support them for their move in this connection.”

Stating that the police will definitely try to help members of the association in this regard, Gyanwant Singh, Commissioner of Bidhannagar City Police, said: “The steps that that are already being taken for safety of the techies include security measures for IT employees, especially women; secondly there is a Facebook page of the Bidhannagar City Police through which one can also approach for police’s assistance and at the same time there is the number 100 as police helpline.”

Singh further said that constant patrolling has been ensured in the sector where people work for 24 hours on all seven days of a week.

Kalyan Kar, vice-president of Sector V Stakeholders’ Association, said: “We are thankful that incidents like Pune, where we have lost a techie from Bengal, don’t take place here. Thus, to maintain the goodwill of the state in the terms of security and safety, the issue will be raised in our forthcoming meeting scheduled to be held in January. Several youth from other states and distant parts of Bengal work in Salt Lake.

Representatives of IT and ITeS companies of all scales and sizes are the members of the association. They will be attending the meeting in which the issue will be raised. We would urge the companies to ensure that employees, mainly the women, can feel comfortable in sharing the troubles as faced by Antara in Pune.”

“We would urge the companies to tell the employees during their induction into the company that they should feel free to talk to the HR people if they face any such problem even outside the office premises as well,” Kar said, adding there are other aspects as well that would also be discussed and if necessary, they would approach the state government and the police for all necessary help required in this connection.