NEW DELHI: Matters are straightening up in sarkari offices in Delhi as the fear of being watched by hawk eyes is gripping officials. Thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Central government offices are on the track to shun that typical ‘sarkari’ image, where babus come late, leave before time and spend more time chit chatting than work. Things have started changing with biometric attendance in place in most of the government offices, forcing employees to reach office on time and latecomers are not spared either as they receive e-mails on a daily basis seeking reasons. Soon CCTV cameras will add to the vigilance.
The employees have been dreading another diktat from the Prime Minister’s Office of linking attendance with Aadhar number of each employee in order to leave no chance for any fraud and tampering. The process to get Aadhar card for every employee is in full-swing, with special camps being held, the employees are counting the days before it gets implemented. To add to their woes and check any espionage, the government is already in the process of installing CCTV cameras in many ministries and the work has already started in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in Oil and Corporate Affairs ministry. Some offices especially the PMO have even stopped offering tea to the visitors. According to an official in the PMO, who had also worked in Gujarat, during Modi’s tenure as Gujarat chief minister, tea and snacks used to be served to employees at their desk so that they don’t take frequent tea breaks thus hampering work.
Indian government’s CEO i.e., PM Narendra Modi’ style of functioning is visible in each and every step of the government and that is turning out to be a tough task for many employees, who for years were not in the habit of reaching office on time. Some have rescheduled timings of their charted buses and others are banking upon carpool services to make it to office on time.
“Now things have become very strict, earlier we reached office by 10 am in place of 9 am and nobody was bothered about punching for attendance and many a times we didn’t even punch. But now things have changed, even if we reach five minutes late, we immediately receive email from the office of secretary saying we are late. Similar is the case for leaving office as now we cannot leave early,” said an employee in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Another central government employee said that the Aadhar based attendance system is on the anvil and it will take another month before it comes into being. Some employees in the Ministry of Defence wonder how to utilize the time as generally official meetings/engagements start only by 11 am while they reach office by 9 am.
The so-called reforms in central government offices started with the first directive from the new PMO for making government offices clean, hygienic and conducive for work. In a fortnight’s time, most of the untidy, shabby and dirty corridors in central ministries wore a spic and span look and all betel stains were covered under a thick coat of paint. Several tons of files and waste paper from offices were discarded and important documents were neatly stacked.
New Initiates in Central Government offices
■ Biometric attendance system
■ Linking attendance with Aadhar to check fraud
■ Emails to employees reaching late
■ CCTV cameras to check espionage
■ Clean and hygienic atmosphere
■ No tea to visitors and employees are served tea and snacks at their workstation to prevent waste of time