Google asked employees in Bengaluru to work from home on Tuesday. (Representative)
Bangalore:
Calls for protests over a long-standing dispute over river water sharing between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have forced global companies including Walmart and Google to ask employees in Bengaluru to work from home on Tuesday.
Farmers and activists have called for a strike in Bengaluru demanding that state authorities refrain from releasing more water from the Cauvery river to Tamil Nadu.
Internal memos seen by Reuters show that multinational companies including Google, Walmart, IBM and Accenture have advised employees to work from home and avoid non-essential travel during Tuesday’s strike.
The dispute over who gets access to the water has been a source of friction between the states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for more than a century.
In 2016, deadly riots broke out in Bengaluru after the Supreme Court ordered the release of some water to Tamil Nadu.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said his government will not curtail the protests but stressed the importance of maintaining peace.
Bengaluru is home to more than 3,500 technology companies and around 79 ‘tech parks’: luxury properties with offices and entertainment spaces for technology workers.
Many companies have asked their employees to return to work or adopted a hybrid work model after the pandemic shutdowns.
Some private schools have also moved Tuesday classes online.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
