With heavy rains during the evening hours throwing traffic out of gear Cyberabad police has suggested IT companies to schedule phase-wise logout for employees in the IT corridor to avoid traffic jams.

Rains, particularly in the evening hours have been predicted by the Met Department on Tuesday and Wednesday prompting the police to issue a circular listing the companies along with phase-wise logout timings.

The move came after heavy rains during peak evening hours on Monday created a horrible traffic logjam particularly near the IKEA store which left the commuters stuck for hours. With most companies logging off at the same time traffic is usually heavy on these stretches in the evening hours and coupled with heavy rain and resultant waterlogging there has been chaos on the roads since monsoon struck.

The past week saw the state government declaring holidays in schools, government offices and also in private ones within Hyderabad for two days in view of torrential rains. Commuters were advised to travel only in emergency. The area around the IT Hub has underpasses to ease traffic but these got heavily flooded after torrential rain in the evening hours during peak traffic. The latest initiative of Cyberabad police for scheduling logout time in a phased manner is aimed at reducing traffic congestion around IKEA store, Biodiversity Park and Raidurgam area.

The circular has divided the logout timings in three phases. Companies in Raheja Mindspace and neighbouring buildings located between IKEA store and Cyber Towers have been asked to logout at 3 pm while those beyond IKEA store, around Biodiversity Park and Raidurgam area including the companies in Knowledge City and Knowledge Park have been told to logout at 4:30 pm. The companies in Gachibowli and Financial District have been told to logout at 6pm.

For the past few weeks the stretch between IKEA store and Cyber Towers has seen severe traffic jams with vehicles stranded for hours and video clips of the same have gone viral with many questioning the BRS government and IT and urban development minister KT Rama Rao over the claims that Hyderabad was at par with global cities.