For beating the heat and the power blues, the Punjab Government on Tuesday launched its early-come-early-go plan by changing the office timings from 7:30 am to 2 pm instead of the usual 9 am to 5 pm for the next two-and-a-half months — a move expected to save 350 megawatt (MW) daily.
 
Even as the new timings are sans any lunch break, the employees will still work an hour less than the usual eight-hour timetable.
 
The “unprecedented” decision, described as the “dawn of a new era” by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is estimated to save approximately Rs 40-45 crores in the next two and half months. “The new work hours will ensure that maximum sunlight is utilized in government offices,” said Mann, who reached his office in Punjab Civil Secretariat well before 7:30 am.
 
Besides Mann, most of the Cabinet Ministers, including Aman Arora, Brahm Shankar Jimpa, Harbhajan Singh ETO, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, other than bureaucrats, superintendents, other employees, also reached office on time. Even the officials, including Deputy Commissioners, and employees also reached their offices in the districts well before the scheduled time.
 
On the first day of the changed timings, the secretariat staff was in full strength, and the corridors of powers were abuzz with hectic activity during the morning hours.
 
Mann, who was among the first few to arrive in the office, first went to his office; and later addressed the media. “I wanted to lead by example as I myself reached the office at 7.28 am,” he said.
 
“This initiative would help save power…Though we have no shortage of power, this will help save 350 MW of power in a day…This reduction in power consumption, if monetized, will ensure that Rs 16-17 crore is saved per month as power bills,” he added.
 
He said that as per statistics of Powercom, 1:30 pm to 4 pm is the peak hour of power usage. “But as now the offices will be closed at 2 pm, it will help in cutting power usage,” he added. 

Listing the benefits of the novel move, the Chief Minister said that apart from saving power, the decision would facilitate the people, enhance government employees’ efficiency, enable the employees to have social life and devoting more time to their families and children, besides managing the traffic, among others.
 
“Apart from facilitating the people, the landmark move will also help in enhancing the efficiency of the government employees…The decision will act as a catalyst in saving the people from scorching heat that is expected to be witnessed in the coming months,” said Mann.
 
“Though the tradition of setting watches in accordance with change of weather has been a routine feature in many western nations, in India, this historic initiative has been taken for the first time,” he said.
 
Adding, the Chief Minister said that it will enable the common man to do his work early in the morning without taking leave from his work. “This will also facilitate the employees as they will be able to attend the social functions after the office hours. Similarly, they will also be able to spend more time with their children who will also come home at the same time,” he said, while adding that it will also help in managing the traffic movement efficiently.
  
Stating that the initiative has been taken after taking consent of majority of the stakeholders, including employees and people, in a series of deliberations, Mann said that after July 15, the decision will be reviewed after taking feedback from all the stakeholders, especially the common man. Mann assured the people that the State Government will take more such citizen-centric decisions in the coming days too for which advance planning has already been done.
  
Punjab Chief Minister Mann said that Union Coal Minister RK Singh was keenly looking at the State Government’s decision to change the office timings, which may be replicated in the entire country.
 
“He told me that if Punjab could succeed with this decision, it would be replicated in other parts of the country also,” said Mann while interacting with the media after reaching his office in Punjab Civil Secretariat before 7:30 am.
 
He said that many other states have also been enquiring about this step and it is likely to be replicated in other states too.
 
Mann envisioned that in big cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and others, such steps can help in streamlining the traffic chaos thereby giving much-needed respite to the common man. 

At the same time, the Chief Minister clarified that they would not impose any power cuts on the industry and domestic consumers. “I want to clarify that we are not imposing any cut on industry or domestic power consumers like we used to see earlier…We have enough power to be diverted to the agriculture sector for the paddy season,” he said.
 
“We have enough power for industry. There will be no cuts in the domestic sector. The paddy farmers will also not face any power issues. We will divide the area into zones so that the farmers get zone-wise supply,” said Mann.
 
He categorically said there was no dearth of power in the state as abundance of electricity is being generated to cater to needs of all the sectors whether it is agriculture, domestic or industry. Citing an example, he said that the Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Power Plant at Ropar has coal for 35 days instead of “35 hours” earlier when the threat of darkness loomed large due to acute shortage of coal in the state.
 
Responding to remarks by Haryana Power Minister Ranjit Singh who had said that Punjab will face a shortage of electricity in the coming days, Mann advised him to refrain from putting his nose in affairs of Punjab and focus on his own state. “We have no shortage. Pachhwara coal mine is functional. Ropar thermal plant has enough coal for 35 days,” he added.
 
With the changed timings, the Civil Secretariat’s staff canteen has also modified their menu. Providing the ‘breakfast’ instead of ‘lunch’ now, the government employees can now savour paranthas and dahi (curd) in the canteen at 11th floor from 8:30 am to 9:30 pm.
 
Mann assured that soon, the village residents would get better connectivity and reach the government offices early. “We will allot new routes of buses to the unemployed. We will start local buses connecting villages with cities,” he added.
 
Employees, coming from far-off places like Kharar, Mohali, Panchkula, Zirakpur, faced problems to reach office on time. Morning rains added to their woes.
 
“It took me about 30 minutes to reach Secretariat from Kharar…It’s comfortable to drive down during early morning hours as there is less traffic movement, but a couple of my colleagues faced difficulty as they could not get the bus on time and were late by a few minutes,” said an employee.