Bunking office hours by Government employees – What actions will Govt. take up?

At a time when all sections of people from across the state need to work double the working hours, many government employees are bunking their jobs for reasons best known to the authorities. The government is making all efforts to restore peace and fill the lapse in development work, Imphal Times staff found 23 employees of the Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Department, including its director, found absent while visiting the office at 11.41 a.m. today.
Government Employees are the key driving force behind a functioning government. It is the employee’s responsibility to work for the betterment of any government activities and initiatives. A government can be people-friendly if its employees, who act as its backbone, are also people-friendly and work tirelessly for the welfare of society.
However, in our state of Manipur, several government officials are well-known throughout India for arriving late at their various offices and leaving early without efficiently completing their responsibilities. The Manipur government has failed to take action against these types of employees for decades.
At a time when the Manipur government is taking serious action regarding the habitual tardiness of its employees in failing to arrive at work on time, 23 of the 61 employees posted in the Directorate office of the Veterinary and Animal Husbandry Department, including its director, were found to be absent from work until 11.41 a.m. today.
All state government departments implemented the GAD order on March 26, 2022, which reduced the number of working days in a week to five while increasing daily working hours beginning at 9 a.m.
It should be noted that the government has issued new office hours as of April 1, 2022, with office hours for winter (March to October) being from 9 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. and office hours for winter (November to February) being from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Earlier in June 2023, the Manipur government announced that no work and no pay would be imposed on all employees who failed to report to work without authorization.
In a recent office memo titled “Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) for attendance of all government employees of Manipur,” Chief Secretary Vineet Joshi reported that a review of government employees’ parking of attendance over AEBAS at the Manipur Secretariat, Babupara, Imphal, found that a significant number of employees posted across sections and departments are not using the system to mark their attendance, even though they are registered and active.
According to the statement, most employees mark their attendance after 10 a.m., and many of them leave before the office closes. It also said that from the CCTV footage captured at various Manipur Secretariat locations, it has been noticed that some employees regularly mark their attendance, leave the premises without even going into their designated rooms or places of work, and return during office closing hours to mark AEBAS.
Considering this carefully, all Manipur Secretariat personnel who are not recording their attendance on AEBAS are advised to do so and will only do so via AEBAS, according to the CS memo.
Let us wait and see what action N. Biren Singh will take against these 23 employees who disobey his government warnings and orders to be at work on time.