QUARTERLY BULLETIN




January to March 2022

I hope the readers have enjoyed going through the First Bulletin for the period Oct-Dec 2021. The offices are still not fully open and employees are working from home. This has prevented HIA from taking up any activities. We are still in the process of getting the infrastructure improvements completed, that will enable more employees to come to office.

The Metro Rail work has started and coupled with that is the difficult task of putting the overhead HT cables underground. The roads are therefore dug up and though COVID-19 has abated, the companies are still not sure whether they should be opening up offices in totality. The effort in this quarter has been entirely to ensure faster completion of projects and clearances of roads.

May we once again reiterate the appeal made in the First Bulletin. To make the Bulletin more wholesome and enjoyable, we request the Centre Heads, Senior Staff, Middle Managers, Junior Managers, Freshers and everyone else in the companies to kindly contribute wholeheartedly to this effort with their ideas, experiences and suggestions through small articles related to our industry and its workforce. I am sure the next bulletin will have more stories from the environment.

Happy Reading!!!!!!!

The Period Jan to Mar 2022:

HIA MC Meetings and Members Meeting:Managing Committee Monthly meetings were held on 20thJan, 24thFeb and 31st Mar 2022. The Members Meeting for the Quarter was held on-lineon 31Mar 2022.

Meeting with CEO PMRDA and all Govt Officials To deliberate upon the slow progress of infrastructure work and to find ways to speed up the same, a meeting was called under aegis of HIA at Infosys on 25 Feb 2022. The meeting was attended by Commissioner of Police PCPC and other department heads including those from Tata Realty, the company constructing the Hinjawadi Metro Rail. A very comprehensive discussion ensued and decisions were taken to speed up the progress of various works.

Brief of proceedings is placed beneath:

To discuss all infra issues, CEO PMRDA was invited along with all stakeholders involved in various projects. Those who attended included:-

  • (a) Commissioner of Police PCPC
  • (b) Officials of Tata Realty undertaking the Metro Rail project.
  • (c) CE PMRDA and team.
  • (d) Jt City Engr PCMC and team.
  • (e) EE MIDC with his team.
  • (f) SE PWD with his team.
  • (g) ACP Hinjawadi with his team of officers.
  • (h) Centre Heads of major HIA companies.
  • (i) President, Vice President of HIA

    • Mr RK Malviya, Vice President HIA opened the discussion and welcomed CEO PMRDA and his team to Infosys. He also welcomed CP, PCPC and other participants from different Govt departments to the meeting. Setting the ball rolling he brought out the criticalities impeding employees starting work from offices. He explained the losses that the companies and thus the taxes that the Govt of Maharashtra was losing out to other States primarily because of lack of infrastructure. He said that the earlier we get our act together and complete all the pending infrastructure projects, the better it will be for the companies and the State. Dr Satish Pai reiterated the same and highlighted the falling employee strength due to poor infrastructure at RGIP. He appealed to the CEO PMRDA to complete the projects at top priority. CEO PMRDA too explained that he was seized of the difficulties being faced and was keen to ensure that the projects were completed earliest. The discussions and outcomes of various issues are set-forth below.

    PMRDA Roads

    New Alternate Road:

    • (a) Road from Mercedes Benz showroom to Shedge Wasti has major land acquisition issues and while efforts will continue, the same is not likely to fructify in the near future.
    • (b) Road from Shedge Wasti to MIDC Circle. Road construction by MIDC has started on the 12 meter width made available by PMRDA. Efforts to acquire the balance width of 24 meters are on. However, no timeline could be put as yet on the date for acquisition..
    • (c) Road from New Bridge to Maan Village. The road has two patches that are under legal contest by the Thaker family. CEO PMRDA said PMRDA has employed a good lawyer and also asked HIA to participate in this fight. He said that he would intimate the exact nature of support that HIA could provide in this legal fight..

      • Road Mhalunge – MIDC Circle – Nande. Though this road was to be completed in 2019, land acquisition issues have prevented completion of about 500 meters of this road. CEO PMRDA expressed that in a democracy there are people who adopt the legal recourse and while we would like to close the matters soon, it takes time to acquire the land. The delay is entirely due to this inability of acquire the said land in its entirety. No date could be set for completion.

      Road Suratwala Complex to RGIP Blue Ridge. The police reps brought out that after Bhoomi pujan done two months ago, no work has happened and the villagers are asking about it. Here too it was explained that there was some relocation issue, but no clear-cut answers were available. PMRDA is seized of this issue and will take it to resolution.

      MIDC Roads

      Widening of Road Wipro Phase 2 to Infosys Road 2. EE MIDC brought out that the widening work is progressing well and will complete by end-Mar 2022. The road construction over the pits filled up once cables are put underground will complete a month after the cable work is fully done. On being informed by Tata Realty team that the entire cable work would be completed by 10 May, EE MIDC said that MIDC would complete its widening work by 10 Jun 2022.

      Road IOC Petrol Pump to Shivaji Chowk. EE MIDC informed that the cement road is nearly complete for use and is being used by vehicles. However, there are a few places where work has been stopped for technical reasons. This will start shortly and the road will be fully ready by end-Mar. As asked by Col Bhogal, COO HIA the Exec Engr MIDC informed that there will be no footpath made on this road to enable provision of wider road space for vehicles.

      New Alternate Road. Presently there are no land patches handed over by PMRDA where MIDC has not started work. As we keep getting land parcels, we shall continue work on the Alternate New Road.

      PWD Roads

      Widening of Road Ghotawade Phata – Ghotwade on Forest Land. EE PWD informed that they had taken up the case with forest department to construct the road. However, no response has been received. PWD will take it up again. There is no timeline for this project.

      Widening of Road Near Sus Village Crematorium. :EE PWD informed that this work is on-going and will complete by Apr 2022.

      PCMC Roads

      Widening of Road Kaspate Chowk – Wakad.It was brought out that though this work is in progress, it is proceeding at a snail’s pace and often stops completely. The BBM work has been done but beyond that there is little progress to make it serviceable. Jt City Engr PCPC brought out that the people still have some unresolved issues that are brought up from time to time. These are sorted out and the work then commences. The entire widening will finish by end-Apr 2022.

      Widening and Cementing of Road from Wakad bridge to IOC Petrol Pump.This is nearly complete and will finish in Mar 2022.

      CCTV. CP, PCPC brought out that he has taken up the Rs. 16 cr CCTV project for RGIP that has been pending for long. He explained that Rs. 8 cr each would be provided by MIDC and PCMC.

      Metro Rail:Tata Realty Team gave a presentation on the Metro Rail project and the details of engineering and the timelines sought to be achieved. 24 kms in 40 months was a tough task which Tata Realty is set to take on and complete.

      Barricading and Piling Work. Presently piling work is going on at only one point in RGIP. The team brought out that when new machinery comes, more points at RGIP would be taken up. CEO PMRDA also asked the team to put barricades only when work was to start and not keep the entire stretch of road barricaded for long. The maximum time a barricade should be in place should be six months. Within that time, the required work should be completed, the pillar should come up and the barricades removed, returning the road to its previous width.

      Summary.

      Site Visits to Review Progress. It was decided that PMRDA will initiate a fortnightly site visit to all locations where work is on-going. All stake holders would participate. The first such site visit would be organized on Wed, 09 Mar 2022. After that the visits will be held on every alternate Wednesdays.

      Participation of Tata Realty team in HIA MC Meetings.Tata Realty team was invited to participate and give the updates about progress of work during the monthly Managing Committee meetings of HIA.

      Meeting with Hon’ble Dy CM. CEO PMRDA brought out that he would invite the Dy CM and other concerned Ministers to participate in a meeting where all the RGIP issues would be discussed. He said that presence of all concerned ministries would help things move faster once decisions are given by the Hon’ble Dy CM.

      Restarting Offices in Staggered Manner. CEO PMRDA asked companies to start in staggard manner and that by Jun the situation would be much better for more employees to come to office. Mr RK Malviya too said that they would start with about 10% employees coming to office and slowly enhance the strength as per the situation.

      Use of Mass Transport for Employees.CEO PMRDA also brought out that companies should make more use of buses for employees to reduce the number of vehicles on the roads.

      Keeping Roads Free from Parking and Vendors. The CP PCPC instructed the ACP Hinjawadi to pass instructions to all Gram Panchayats about the various clauses that would be invoked if there is parking in no-parking areas and also vendors occupying streets. He asked the ACP to liaise with Pune police and check what all equipment and vehicles they have asked for controlling illegal parking and towing away vehicles.

      The meeting ended with all stakeholders assuring to do the best for addressing the infrastructure issues of RGIP and keep in regular touch to jointly take the projects to completion.

      Vote of Thanks. Mr RK Malviya, Vice President HIA thanked CEO PMRDA, Commissioner of Police PCPC and all Govt officials for sparing their valuable time and contributing wholeheartedly to the meeting and to the development of infrastructure at RGIP. He expressed that this interaction has given everyone a renewed confidence that each department of the Govt is committed to carry out the projects on time. He expressed gratitude to CEO PMRDA for driving the Metro Rail initiative that was so critical to RGIP and the companies functioning therein. He also lauded the role of CP PCPC in the overall security environment and traffic management of RGIP that enabled the smooth execution of various projects through vigilance of police, and thanked him for the same. He also expressed his appreciation to the PWD, MIDC, PCMC and Police representatives without whom he said the meeting would have remained inconclusive. Finally, Mr Malviya thanked all the Centre Heads of RGIP for sparing time and attending the meeting. He also thanked the Admin staff that made this meeting successful.



Sub Committee News – Jan – Mar 2022

Infra Committee News. A recee to ascertain progress of all pending infra projects was carried out on 09 Mar 2022. Brief of the Report of the Recce is placed beneath.

Teams from Metro Rail, PMRDA, PCMC, MIDC, Police and HIA participated. PWD reps did not attend. The dates for completion of various projects and the issues involved that still present an impediment are as set -forth in the paragraphs below.

  • PCMC Roads.
  • (a) Widening of Kaspate- Chowk to Wakad.Completion by end-Mar 2022.
  • (b) Wakad Flyover – IOC Petrol Pump including round about near IOC Pump.Completion by end-Mar 2022.
  • (c) Kasturi Chowk Widening.No input as yet.
  • (d) Widening from Kasturi Chowk to Shivaji Chowk.No input as yet.

    • MIDC Roads:

    • (a) Widening and Cementing from IOC Petrol Pump to Shivaji Chowk. 90% completed. Balance by end-Mar 2022.
    • (b) Shivaji Chowk to Mindtree Road cemented.Miscelleous work balance at patches to be completed by end-Mar 2022.
    • (c) Widening of Road from Wipro Phase 2 to Phase 3. By end-May 2022.

      • PMRDA Roads

      • (a) Road MIDC Circle to Nande. Land issue still being resolved through obtaining Property Cards from DC office. EE PMRDA Ms. Sheetal Deshpande co-ordinating the matter. Work expected to start by end-Mar 2022 once land acquisition issue resolved.
      • (b) PMRDA and MIDC. 12 meter width handed over to MIDC also has problems at two places. This is being dealt with by PMRDA through Land Department. This may need escalation and CEO PMRDA may have to get involved along with Dist Collector. EE PMRDA Ms Sheetal Deshpande co-ordinating matter.

        • PWD Roads:

        The PWD team was not present. However following roads being undertaken by PWD.

        • (a) Widening of road near Sus gaon Crematorium WIP. Completion date not certain yet.
        • (b) Widening of Road from Mhalunge to Shedge Vasti. Work not started yet.

          • Metro Rail Team.

          • (a) Removal of HT towers. Completion by end- Mar 2022.
          • (b) Metro work as per schedule.



Security and Safety Committee News.

Changes in Vendors for RGIP Security Purposes: After nearly a decade, it was decided to find new vendors for performing security and traffic duties. Accordingly a new RFP was floated. Response came from ninevendors. A detailed exercise to evaluate the vendors was carried out by the S&S Committee and the various contracts allotted to vendors are as under:-

  • JSTF - UDF Security Services
  • HIA Building Security - Radiant Security Services
  • Traffic Wardens - Radiant Security Services

    •

    The new contracts areeffective from 01 Apr 2022.

    Evaluation of Vendor for Garden Maintenance An exercise to evaluate new vendors for garden maintenance was undertaken. The existing vendor – Sumeet Facilities- was found most suitable and was continued with.

    Tree Plantation on 09 Feb 2022

    A Tree plantation drive was organized by the Clean and Green Committee of HIA on 09 Feb 2022. 60 trees were planted between SEZ Circle and Mannara Tech Park. This is part of the continued efforts at greening RGIP.

    This drive saw plantation of Banyan and Almond trees. Neem trees would be added to this area in monsoon.

    The event was attended by Col Charanjeet Singh Bhogal, COO HIA amid participation by the complete Clean and Green Committee.



    News from HR Co-ord Committee. A review of the book Digital Sutra – Accelerating Digital Success was conducted by Upohan on 17 Feb 2022. The book co-authored by Ganesh Natarajan, Uma Ganesh and Lavanya Jayaram deals with the subject of re-imagining organisations for a Post Covid -19 World.

    Eklavya Malhotra, Engagement ManagerUpohanvery effectively took the audience through the content with a very interesting elaboration of how working at organisations is changing for good in the post Covid -19 era. He brought out how the authors have tried to focus on the different components of a business. From business infrastructure, investment in digitization, service enhancement, all the way to suggestions on employee productivity. He explained that each chapter has been further divided into sections, which made the reading more educative.

    There is a worldwide transformation in business practices occurring across industries. Organisations continue to enhance their competitive advantage by launching new digital journeys with great agility. The COVID-19 transformation and the unstoppable push towards a ‘new normal’ for all processes and businesses will definitely see a complete reimagination of work. Digital re-engineering will emerge as the new imperative as technologies enter the workplace and processes get re-engineered. This also enables a complete changing of the customer and other stakeholder requirements and new skills and cultural change become the new imperative for human resource functions.

    This bookwould be of interest to CEOs, CFOs and other senior positions within companies that are trying to make the digital changes in their organisations. The book will help them gain insights on aligning their existing investment with newer initiatives, and also develop a proper roadmap for their digital future.

    Panel Discussion on Post Covid Scenario of Industry. The book review was followed by a panel discussion. The panel of Dr. Deepak Deshpande, Sr Dir HR, NTT Global Centres and Cloud Infrastructure India and Deep Mody, CHRO Easy Pay was well moderated by Advait Kurlekar, COO Upohan and deliberated upon a number of current issues post COVID and also looked to the future that would emerge with new technologies like Artificial Intelligence taking over the workplace. .

    Vote of Thanks. Lastly, Mr. Samir Gadgil, Secretary HIA and member of HR Co-ord Committee delivered the Vote of Thanks and expressed his gratitude to the panel members and Upohan for conducting a very insightful discussion.

    Signing Off for Now…Once again, it’s been a pleasure bringing to you the news and happenings of the Jan-Mar 2022 quarter at RGIP and HIA ….Though the pandemic has ebbed, the infrastructure challenges continue to impede offices from fully opening up. Hence, the restriction on holding events and activitiesat HIA continues.

    As we sign off, we would once again request more and more employees to participate in the journey - write stories, experiences, anecdotes related to RGIP, work, human resource matters, operational issues, fun about office and anything that you would like….it will find a place within the Bulletin along with the updates and news.

    Till then leaving you with a sincere wish for good health and happiness …..……. Cheerio and Best Wishes !!!





October to December 2021

Welcome to the First Bulletin!!!!!! as all dear members are aware, HIA conducts a monthly Managing Committee meeting where the updates and changes occurring during the month are brought out for information of the Managing Committee. Further every Quarter, there is conduct of Members Meeting where changes and updates that have occurred over the quarter are presented to the member companies with a detailed pictorial slide show. During the pandemic where personal contact is extremely limited, on-line meetings remained our only sources of exchange of information and ideas.

As of now, all activity undertaken by HIA and thereafter put across to the companies during Members Meetings are uploaded onto the HIA website for information of employees. To further improve our information channels, the Managing Committee has decided to also start a ‘Quarterly News and Updates’ link that has been placed on the Website. This will be an additional tool to pass updates and information to the environment. The existing channels will continue…...

To make this attempt more interactive and interesting we also appeal to everyone – Centre Heads, Senior Staff, Middle Managers, Junior Managers, Freshers and everyone else in the companies to contribute wholeheartedly to this effort with their ideas, experiences and suggestions through small articles related to our industry and its workforce. So, rather than being merely one of updates, the document will be an interesting and wholesome read for all.

HIA MC Meetings and Members Meeting: Managing Committee Monthly meetings were held on 27th Oct, 25th Nov and 20th Dec 2021. The Members Meeting for the Quarter was held offline on 15 Dec 2021.

Meetings with Govt Officials:

Meeting with Police Commissioner PCPC on 05 Oct 2021:This meeting was held at HIA Office and attended by a large gathering of police officers, MIDC, PWD, PMRDA, PWD and other Govt departments in addition to the representatives from Gram Panchayats of various villages. Topics ranging from security to infrastructure to subjects of common interest were discussed. The Managing Committee HIA welcomed the Police Commissioner and the Additional Police Commissioner to the event. Col Charanjeet S. Bhogal, Chief Operating Officer HIA then gave a detailed presentation on all infrastructure aspects to be discussed. There was active participation and contribution from all officials and it was agreed to speed up all processes and activities to make the goal of world class infrastructureat RGIP and in the surrounding villages, a reality.

Some pictures from the event:



Meeting with CEO PMRDA @ PMRDA Aundh Office on 22nd Nov 2021:In view of the Metro Rail work starting at Hinjawadi and the consequent traffic jams due to restricted road space, meeting with CEO PMRDA was held to push for speedier completion of various roads that are alternate avenues to RGIP. Repairs of potholes, speedy completion of cable laying and closure of the ducts and such other infra related issues pertaining to PMRDA were discussed. The result of the meeting was that work on roads and cable ducts has started in real earnest.

Work on Hinjawadi-Shivajinagar Metro has also started after this meeting



Meetings and interactions with MIDC are a regular affair. This has ensured faster pace of the widening of this very critical stretch.



Interaction with Min for Commerce and Industry @ JW Marriott on 12th Dec 2021

An interaction with Minister for Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goel was held under aegis of CII at JW Marriott. HIA was represented by the President HIA Dr Satish Pai and his team comprising Col Charanjeet Singh Bhogal, COO, and Shri Adhiraj Gadgil, Member Managing Committee.

The President HIA put forth the following points to the Hon’ble Minister and also offered solutions against each:-

  • SEZ Units can sell in India only against payment of Foreign Exchange. This is an impractical situation.-HIA asked for sale in INR as done for STPI
  • Material movement is severely restricted causing difficulties to units and vendors.Documentation be insisted upon only for bonded goods. 99% goods entering SEZ being unbonded, the strict procedure should be done away with.
  • Group Health Insurance , food material etc does not come under GST benefit as it is considered ‘not linked to business’.Human capital being linked to business associated expenditure on them must get zero rated supply of input tax credit.
  • WFH is restricted under SEZ scheme.Since hybrid work culture is the norm now, any restriction including movement of personnel from SEZ to non-SEZ and vice versa should be removed.
  • Connectivity of RGIP is grossly inadequate.More avenues be created as over 3 lakhs employees come for work to RGIP daily.
  • • WFH is a new phenomenon which has become reality across industry sectors. However, the relevant laws and rules do not cater for this.All workplace related and employee rights/welfare related laws and rules would need suitable amendments. HIAshould be involved in such a process.

Sub Committee News: Oct – Dec 2021

Security and Safety Committee: New Bolero for JSTF. To replace an ageing vehicle for the JSTF, a new Bolero was deployed. The vehicle was inducted into service on 15 Dec 2021. After the Members Meeting at HIA, a small ceremony was held to induct the Bolero into operational duty.



Clean and Green Committee: Members would recall that the beautification area created with so much care and love was totally destroyed due to the cable laying requirement. The cables have now been laid and the area is being flattened. Till the Metro work is complete no further beautification drives will be held. However, plantation of Oxygen yielding trees like Bael, Neem etc would continue wherever areas for plantation are available. The Committee continues with this quest for a cleaner environment at RGIP.



HR Co-ord Committee: A review of the book The Right Choice: Resolving 10 Career Dilemmas for Extraordinary Success by Shiv Shivkumar was conducted by Upohan on 18 Nov 2021. The book with foreword by Indra Nooyi was reviewed by Eklavya Malhotra of Upohan who briefly but clearly brought out the 10 dilemmas that face anyone wanting to make a career change. The book review was followed by a panel discussion. The panel of Soumi Alphons and Sanjay Khorate both established leaders in the field of HR Management and Employee development had an interesting conversation with Advait of Upohan.

Signing Off for Now……. It’s been a great pleasure bringing to you the very first bulletin…. The pandemic has prevented us from holding events and activities, but our collective desire to interact, contribute and grow as an Association cannot be curbed. We shall find newer ways to connect and this is another effort towards that. This cannot be however a one-sided affair and I would request more and more to participate in the journey, write stories, experiences, anecdotes related to RGIP, work, human resource matters, operational issues, fun about office and anything that you would like….we will interject it along with the updates and make the document enjoyable. Till then leaving you with a sincere wish for a Wonderful New Year 2022 and may we soon rid ourselves of the COVID pandemic and restart our lives as hitherto fore…..……. Cheerio and Best Wishes !!!