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New timings: Government offices in Ludhiana chime with activity
Senior officials from various departments, including district commissioner Surabhi Malik, municipal commissioner Shena Aggarwal, civil surgeon Hitender Kaur and other staff members arrived at their respective offices at 7:30 am
: The government offices in the city were brimming with activity on Tuesday, with employees trickling in early in the morning in adherence to the government’s announcement of new office timings from 7:30am.
Senior officials from various departments, including district commissioner Surabhi Malik, municipal commissioner Shena Aggarwal, civil surgeon Hitender Kaur and other staff members arrived at their respective offices at 7:30 am. However, arrival of visitors at the offices at that time remained low.
The Punjab Government had announced working hours at all the government offices in Punjab to be changed to 7:30am to 2pm from May 2 onwards. The orders will remain applicable till July 15. The decision was taken to reduce the electricity load during peak hours in the summer season.
Waking up early increases productivity: DC Malik
At the deputy commissioner’s office at the mini-secretariat, Rahul Chaba, additional deputy commissioner (ADC, general) was the first officer to reach office, followed by deputy commissioner (DC) Surabhi Malik.
“Waking up early is already a tradition in India and our parents do encourage us to wake up early in the morning, it increases productivity,” Malik said.
“With the new timings, people belonging to service class can go to their workplace after getting their work done from the government offices in the morning, otherwise they would be forced to either get a day off or get a break from their jobs,” she said.
She said that the move will help to manage the electricity load as demand and consumption of power will increase in the summer season.
Malik added that she would talk to the employees of the office to come 30 minutes earlier and do some physical activity for being healthy. She checked the attendance and found most of the staff present.
Joyful scenes at MC office
Municipal staffers were seen exchanging joyful remarks and congratulating each other for making it well on time on the first day.
A staffer at municipal corporation’s Zone D office said, “It was a bit exciting as it is the first time I left home to come to work so early. Adjusting to the new routine will take time.”
A majority of staffers arrived at their respective offices on time. The MC commissioner also issued notices to the staff who were late and directed them to be punctual.
An MC official requesting anonymity said that the new timings have put the property tax recovery staff into a dilemma.
“Most of the property owners arrive at their offices well after 11 am. As the official timings are 7:30am to 2 pm, how will we meet our targets with just three hours of work,” the official said.
Another staffer said that official meetings usually start after lunch and go on till evening. It is expected that they will have to spend extra hours in the office for a few days till all get used to the new timetable, the official said.
Difficulties for staffers living out of city
Several employees of the various departments, including health and electricity, who travel regularly from different towns and cities such as Raikot, Ferozepur, Malerkolta, and Jalandhar left their homes in the wee hours to make to the office on time.
SR Vashishat, chief engineer of central zone, PSPCL, Ludhiana said, “though most of the staffers had reached on time, some of them got late as only a few buses are scheduled at the time with most of them filled up to capacity.”
He said that the timetable of buses should be changed to be favourable for the employees who travel from different cities.
Sharing his experience of boarding an overloaded bus, a PSPCL employee said that he had to climb atop to find a place to sit in a fully packed bus at around 5.30 am in the morning.
On the other hand, staffers who drive themselves to the office were relieved with the change in time as they were saved from regular traffic jams during peak hours.
Children visit office with parents
An employee of the district education office reached office with his daughter in uniform. The employee stated that he used to reach the office after dropping her daughter at school. As the government changed the timings of the offices, he brought his daughter to the office. After marking attendance and starting working, he said he will make some arrangements to send her to school.
Employees in office, but no visitors
Employees at the Secretary of Regional Transport Authority’s office reached on time, but there was no visitor. The office usually sees scores of visitors who wait for a long duration in rows to pay for their challans and complete other formalities. Visitors started coming after 8:30 am.
The public dealing counters at MC offices also recorded a low footfall, an official said.
“On usual days, we do not get even a minute as the counters remain jam-packed. Today, there were only around 10 visitors till 8:30am,” the official said.
