Sikkim shuffles Saturday holidays

RAJEEV RAVIDAS, TT, 16 Jan 2020, Gangtok: The Sikkim government has decided to roll back its decision to keep its offices closed on all Saturdays and limit the holidays to Sundays and second and last Saturdays as employees had become "lackadaisical" because of the extended weekend The change was announced by chief minister P.S. Tamang (Golay) while speaking at a Limboo festival at the remote Lingchom village in West Sikkim on Tuesday 

"We will make a slight change in this (holidays). Henceforth, we will give holidays only on second and last Saturdays," he said, adding that the change would come into effect from April 

The five-day week schedule was the first decision announced by Golay immediately after taking oath as chief minister on May 27 last year. The five-day schedule was a promise made by the Sikkim Krantikari Morcha before the last Assembly elections Giving the reason for the change, the chief minister said the majority of government employees instead of working doubly hard on the five week days in view of the extended two-day weekend break did the opposite by becoming lack- adaisical. 

"The majority of government employees instead of working from Monday to Friday work only till Thursday and don't turn up even on Friday," he alleged 

The rollback, Golay said, was in the interest of the public. "We had given holiday immediately after coming to power, but we had hoped they would work from Monday to Friday till 4.30pm. But even now, they come to office only at 11am and leave by 3pm," the chief minister further alleged The five-day week was among the many populist promises made by the SKM, but which its government is clearly finding difficult to fulfill The other pledges included converting Mitokgang, which is the official residence of the chief minister, into a cancer hospital and turning luxury vehicles used by the ministers of the previous government into ambulances The main opposition Sikkim Democratic Front was prompt in ridiculing the Golay government, accusing the chief minister of eating crow. "He (Golay) has reduced governance to a plaything. Not a word of him or his party can be trusted," said J.B. Darnal, a spokesman of SDF The previous SDF govern- ment, too, had done a flip-flop on the politics of holidays by first withdrawing holidays on all Saturdays and then declaring second Saturdays as government holiday just before the last Assembly elections.