Hyderabad: When Rakesh Kumar returned to his hostel on Thursday, he was taken aback to see a notice on the gate of his building.
"The hostel management requests its residents to vacate the premises within 24 hours," it read, citing orders from municipal authorities.
Rakesh is not alone in his dilemma. Several other private hostels in the city, which host working employees and students, have been putting up notices, asking people to leave the premises immediately due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao recently announced that all educational institutions, pubs and recreation places in the state would be shut till the end of March.
Urging companies to also practise social distancing, the government had appealed for employees to be provided work-from-home options. But not many IT companies have followed suit. The city hosts a significant population from various districts, particularly people who have moved here for work or educational purposes.
“How can they ask us to leave within 24 hours?" asked a distraught Sathwik, who is employed at a software company and hails from Nalgonda. "I do not even have a work-from-home option, so what am I supposed to do now?”
According to his hostel management, officials from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) visited various hostels and issued an ultimatum to make alternate arrangements for the residents.
GHMC officials, however, denied any such orders.
“There was no official order issued from GHMC on this. We are looking after sanitisation and suggested that hostels should not be overcrowded, but said nothing on vacating or sending people away," said Deputy Mayor Baba Fasiuddin.
The IT industry COVID-19 committee clarified that working hostels need not be shut. It said police helpline numbers were available and people could report such actions taken by hostel managements.
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