THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Employees occupying office tables and working on files with due dedication on a holiday is not a regular sight in government offices. However, the second Saturday was an exception for employees of city corporation. Most of the employees attended work on Saturday, which they will repeat next Sunday too, to clear pending work before the end of the financial year.
The decision to work on these two holidays was taken by Kerala Municipal and Corporation Staff Union (KMSCU). In addition to completion of pending works, they have also set up tax collection counters in all the 100 wards to help city residents pay the tax as soon as possible. The counters were also opened at the zonal offices and main office too.
The Janasevana Kendram at the corporation office also functioned on the day. A staff member at Janasevana Kendram said that 68 applications for birth, death, marriage, residential/ownership certificates and other applications were received. A total amount of Rs 1.36 crore was received as revenue tax collection from the counters and offices.
“We need to complete the process of fund expenditure of various schemes before the end of the financial year on March 31 and to complete maximum revenue tax collection from the people. Also, we need to send a message to the people that we are committed to work for society. The corporation main office, zonal offices and ward-level tax collection counters are functioning these days. We used to work on these days usually in March and on holidays of other months too if any contingency comes,” said P Suresh, general secretary, KMSCU.
The residents of all wards had earlier been informed about the working of offices and counters through residents associations. However, the main aim is to collect tax from the people so that the entire pending works can be completed by this month end.
Suresh also added that working on holidays would be a learning experience for the newly inducted staff and it is training for them too. “File movement will also be easier as we get two more additional working days. Since the working time is from 10am to 5pm, we can complete the pending work on these two days. Fund expenditure on project execution needs to be recorded in the accounts. So these days will be helpful for us and it will be beneficial to the taxpayers,” Suresh said. Of the 600 employees at the corporation office, more than 90%are members of KMCSU and most of them attended work on Saturday.