JOIN USMaharashtra Secretariat Mantralaya to work in two shifts
In a development that would trigger a culture of operating offices in shifts and stagger work timings, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday initiated a plan to run Mantralaya, the state secretariat in two shifts.
Concerned by the rise in Covid-19 cases, Thackeray reviewed the emerging situation in Mumbai and the larger Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), where one of the biggest challenges is crowding in local trains and public places and lack of takers for the new normal.
On Tuesday, MMR recorded 1,250 cases and 11 deaths pushing the progressive total to 7,16,299 and 19,768, respectively.
Thackeray chaired two back-to-back meetings – to review the situation in Mumbai and MMR.
He also held a separate meeting with top bureaucrats including Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar and Maharashtra Gazetted Officers Association’s chief advisor G D Kulthe.
“Let's work on a plan to run Mantralaya in two shifts and also promote work-from-home culture in the wake of the Covid-19 situation...we need to change the 10 am to 5 pm office mindset,” Thackeray said.
Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic a year ago in India, the chief minister has been promoting work-from-home and stepping out of homes only when necessary.
However, in the wake of rising cases, he has now directed to start two-shifts in Mantralaya.
In fact, the government is concerned about the crowd in the suburban trains in Mumbai-MMR, which is suspected to be one of the reasons for the increase in cases. “We have to look at concepts at procedures so that work efficiency is maintained and the threat of spread of Covid-19 reduces,” he said.
He also said that the Mantralaya staff should be treated as frontline workers and should get priority in the vaccination programme. “The crowd coming to the secretariat also needs to be reduced,” he said.