West Bengal Govt staggers its employees' working hours to reduce crowding in public transport
Kolkata/IBNS: To reduce crowding of office-goers in public transport and to ensure physical distancing at workplaces, West Bengal government on Wednesday staggered the working hours of its employees which will come into effect from Thursday, until further order.
During a press conference here at state secretariat at Nabanna, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced to divide the working hours of state government employees into two shifts.
"As we have limited number of public transports available at this time and we want to maintain the physical distancing norms in buses as well as at workplaces, we have decided to stagger the working hours of our employees (officers and staff up to the level of deputy secretary)— one from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm and another from 12:30 pm to 5:30 pm," CM Mamata Banerjee said.
Banerjee also requested the private employers to grant their employees work-from-home benefit as much as possible.
"In the private offices where work-from-home is not possible, I would appeal to the employers to divide the working hours into small shifts to reduce gathering at the workplaces," she added.
Later, the state finance department issued an order regarding the announcement and clarified that the staggering of duty hours will not be applicable for the government officers above the rank of deputy secretary, who use official vehicles.
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