The Channel IT fraternity in Chennai is completely disturbed by the heavy rainfall and flood. Many IT shops and organizations are shut down for the past two days as the water is surrounding the areas. Ritchie street, the IT hub of the city is also impacted.
The Chindadripet, the are where Ritchie street, the IT market is located is heavily impacted by the continuous rains for the past two days. Worst-affected are the shops located in the underground/basement and ground floors are completely flooded with water. “I have not seen my shop yet and I am completely disconnected with the outer world as the connectivity in the city has gone for a toss.”, says a partner from the Ritchie street.
Some of the warehouses across the area are affected and the materials in the go-downs are likely to be flooded with water. Also, according to the sources in Chennai, as the business entities are completely shut no business transaction will happen for the next four days. The payments from the city to the other parts are likely to happen only after a week.
Mobile Networks Affected:
The mobile networks were affected and many channel partners cannot reach their kin and kith. The mobile network companies came forward to help the needy. To enable customers to remain connected in this precarious time in flood hit Chennai, Vodafone is offering pre-approved ‘chhota credit’ of Rs.10 to all pre-paid customers and a credit of 10 minutes for Vodafone to Vodafone calling. In addition, free 100MB mobile data is being offered to all customers with data enabled handsets. The validity of the talk time credit and free data is two days. For postpaid customers whose bills are due for payment immediately, the time to make the payment is being extended. Airtel has also launched similar top-up options for the subscribers. BSNL has made unlimited free-calls for the subscribers.
Events Cancelled:
Three vendor-meetings which were ealrier planned to happen in various parts of the city have got cancelled. Since all the channel partners, vendor executives and distribution companies in the city are not working for this week, the business is not affected just in Chennai but across the state. The Chennai partners had appealed to their business partners across the state to stand with them and co-operate for smooth business transactions.
A view of Ritchie Street