A section of mid-level companies is asking employees to avoid public transport and reach their workplaces either by private vehicles or by paying for office-arranged transport.

The fear that lax social distancing in public transport could aid the spread of Covid-19 has prompted the private companies to issue such a directive, both employers and employees have told The Telegraph on the condition of anonymity.

Buses, taxis and autos are the modes of public transport available now.

Some companies have made the use of private transport a condition for returning to work and retaining one’s job.

“I have told my people not to take public transport at all. The office will arrange pool car pick-up and drop if someone wants to avail it. It will come at a cost and the employee has to bear it. This is non-negotiable,” said a city-based businessman.

The Bengal government has left it to the private sector to decide on the number of employees they want in office.

Many top-tier companies with a strong IT backbone are continuing with their lockdown policy of having staff work from home as far as possible or attend office on alternate days.

The atmosphere is vastly different in smaller companies or proprietorship firms that lack the ability to facilitate work from home.

It is mostly such firms that are asking staff to use personal vehicles or pool cars to reach office. Not everyone can afford such alternatives.

An employee of a Sector V company that deals in animal and fish feed said her brother had been dropping her off at her office in his two-wheeler.

“The administrative team of our office made it clear that we would not get paid if we work from home. So, I had no choice but to go to office,” she said.

Some companies are arranging transport but for a fee. Such a practice was prevalent earlier too but the employees then had the choice not to use the paid pool cars or buses chartered by their employer.

The choice does not exist any more. The employee has to either travel by the office vehicle and pay or stay home at the risk of a pay cut or worse.

Some companies that did not charge for transport facilities earlier are doing so now.

Not all have been told to pick up the tab. Kamrud Jaman, 36, who works for a car dealership in Sector V and rides a two-wheeler to his workplace, said: “Our office administration is encouraging the use of two-wheelers and has asked us not to use public transport. They have told us they would foot the fuel bills for the commute.”

Subhankar Halder, 34, who works for a financial services company, rode his motorcycle to his workplace in Sector V’s Infinity Building from his home in Serampore.

Halder, who used to take the bus earlier, said he had been advised by the human resource department to use his own vehicle and to avoid using public transport as a precaution against Covid-19 spreading to his workplace.

“Those who don’t have their own vehicles have been asked to work from home,” said Halder.