Hyderabad: The busy townships, apartments and gated communities in Hyderabad are now wearing a deserted look due to the coronavirus crisis. A sizeable number of IT employees have vacated these townships located on the outskirts of the city.
According to available information, out of 1200 families, only 550 families are staying currently in these townships, rest have returned to native places. Some lost jobs while some left the city out of fear. With many establishments offering work from home option, employees have returned to their cities in other states.
The townships of Hyderabad which used to be fully-packed with either bachelor's or families and might have to struggle to find an apartment. The situation today is completely opposite owing to coronavirus lockdown. The apartments are vacant and owners are struggling to find tenants.
According to managers of Townships Welfare Associations, due to the coronavirus pandemic that is continuing unabated to cause huge job and employment loss in the city and the state. Now, these townships and gated communities have suffered the maintenance charges and got arrears. They used to get Rs 1 cr towards maintenance charges a month and as most of the occupants have vacated the flats, managers bemoan the losses due to non-payment.
Despite unlock 2.0, many companies continued to have virtual meetings and offer work from home till December and employees prefer to be in their home states and districts respectively.
Most of the employees who had vacated these rooms had said that they may return by December if normalcy returns.
Mettu Balreddy President of Sanskriti Township has expressed concern that Rs 1.50 cr arrears are yet to be paid and it became a big burden.
"On the outskirts townships, apartments and gated communities are falling vacant as some employees are paying and others not. It is leading to a lot of inconveniences to us as we are facing difficulty in collecting maintenance charges," he deplored.
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