Plea for full staff attendance in Bengal -Several departments facing scarcity of employees after the state govt launched ‘Duare Sarkar’

According to senior officials, the finance department had issued an order asking the departments to function with 50 per cent employee strength when nearly 4,000 Covid-19 cases were being reported daily.

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Pranesh Sarkar   |   Calcutta   |   Published 08.01.21, 03:00 AM

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Senior officers of several departments in the Mamata Banerjee government have requested the Nabanna top brass to allow them to work with cent per cent employees as the departments are facing trouble to complete pending work with half of the staff strength.

“Senior officers of a number of departments, particularly those which are implementing development projects at the ground level, have urged the finance department to reconsider the order in which government departments were allowed to function with 50 per cent employees in a given day in office. The departments have requested the top brass to reconsider the order as they are facing trouble to complete the pending work with half of their employee strength,” said a senior government official.

Sources said the departments were facing scarcity of employees after the state government launched “Duare Sarkar” — a two-month long programme to reach out people left out of government schemes — on December 1.

More than 1.5 crore people have visited the camps set up under the programme across the state and majority of them wished to get included in the list of beneficiaries of several government schemes, including Swasthya Sathai, Krsihask Bandu, caste certificates, pension schemes and job cards under 100 days’ work scheme.

“The state government wants to ensure benefits to all eligible applicants by February end. But it is getting difficult to complete the work with half of the employee strength,” said a secretary of a department.

The department secretaries are also worried about the scarcity of employees further as the state government has taken up another programme, paray samadhan, from January.

According to senior officials, the finance department had issued an order asking the departments to function with 50 per cent employee strength when nearly 4,000 Covid-19 cases were being reported daily.

“But the situation has changed in the past one month as only 800-odd positive cases are being reported now. So, the state government should reconsider the decision in the changed circumstances,” said a source. According to sources aware of the development, any final decision in this regard would be taken by the chief minister as she is handling Covid-19-related affairs from Day 1.

“The chief minister is worried about the spread of the novel coronavirus in government offices, which would leave the departments in trouble. She would consider all factors before taking a decision,” said a source.

According to the sources, the demand for the presence of all employees in offices is gaining momentum as the majority of the employees were unable to work from home.

“Either they are saying that they don’t have computers at homes or the required software was not installed. So, it’s better that they come to office with proper safety measures and work,” said another secretary.