Dispur Spends Rs 27,000 Crore for Missing Work Culture!

Dispur Spends Rs 27,000 Crore for Missing Work Culture!

PUBLIC SERVICE AT STAKE

* Late entry, early exit, and piled-up files rule the roost in government offices

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Call it a tragic irony. But it is the reality. Dispur spends much more than what it earns every year for its 5 lakh plus employees only to see empty offices till late morning hours, files piling up and gathering dust and rush to leave office much ahead of the sunset.

Assam annually earns Rs 24,000 crore as revenue from different sources, and spends Rs 27,000 crore to pay salaries, pension and wages. The situation has reached such a pass that the Dispur is depending on funds released by the Centre to pay salaries to its employees.

Sources said funds (in between Rs 55,000 and Rs 60,000 crore) released by Finance Commission in every five year are being used to bridge the gap between income (revenue) and expenditures (salary, pension and wages).

While the public exchequer goes empty by paying salaries to employees, the word ‘public service’ is still a misnomer for the majority of government employees. Practically, most of the employees consider work culture as an alien culture and come and leave offices at their whims and fancies.

The BJP-led government after coming to power in the State in 2016, had changed the office timing (9.30 am to 5 pm) with an aim to improve work culture. Forget about 9.30 am. Hardly 60 per cent employees turn up at offices in between 11 am and 11.30 am. Such attendance of employees is seen at the State Secretariat. There is literally no time schedule of arrival and departure of employees at many offices at the district and sub-divisional levels.

While majority of the employees are reluctant to attend offices in time, they become hyper-active to celebrate their holidays. Employees enjoy around 108 days of holidays (including the Sundays and the third as well as fourth Saturdays and that too excluding the restricted holidays).Besides the holidays, many employees are seen enjoying “unofficial leave” on various pretexts.

Such a state-of-affair has resulted in piled up files gathering dust and helpless people running from door to door in the government offices. Taking advantage of such a situation, sources said a section of employees and dalals (middlemen) have started taking bribes from people to get their work done as early as possible.

Many retired officials who served the State Government with sincerity and dedication said it is high time for the Sarbananda Sonowal government to use the carrot-and-stick policy.

“While the government must reward the dedicated employees, those who lack work culture must be punished. The government must put in place a strong monitor mechanism to catch employees who evade their duties at the drop of a hat,” a retired bureaucrat said. He added that the government often fears of taking drastic actions against insincere employees due to certain political equation.

“Five lakh plus employees are considered as a major vote bank. It is high time for the State Government to decide whether politics or work culture is its priority,” another retired official said.

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