Senior officials of the State Government joined their offices on Monday, nearly a month after restrictions were imposed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
While Class-I officers resumed work from their offices, including State Secretariat Lok Seva Bhavan, subordinate staffs began working on a roster basis. As per the roster system, 33 per cent of the junior staffs of different departments would be working on a rotational basis.
The offices, barring those of some crucial departments, remained closed due to the lockdown imposed since March 22. The State Government has classified 11 departments in the emergency category, senior officers of which continued to attend offices while the junior staffs were asked to stay at home.
The Government relaxed the lockdown norms in some parts of the State, but there was no such breather for the residents of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and other areas that reported COVID-19 cases as strict restrictions continued.
COVID-19 cases have been reported from 10 of the State’s 30 districts. The affected districts are Khordha (46 corona cases), Bhadrak (8), Baleswar (3), Kendrapada, Jajpur, Kalahandi and Sundargarh (two each) and one each from Cuttack, Dhenkanal and Puri.
Chief Secretary AsitK Tripathy on Sunday had said that while the agriculture sector is being cautiously opened up, there would be not much change in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack as the twin cities would continue to be under lockdown restrictions.
The Government relaxed certain restrictions in the agriculture, construction and allied sectors from Monday as per the Centre’s guidelines and the situation would ill be reviewed from time to time, Tripathy said.
Bhubaneswar-Cuttack Commissioner of Police Sudhansu Sarangi also reiterated that there won’t be any relaxations in the twin cities. “The situation is under review. We request citizens for their continued cooperation, he added.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has also issued a notification informing people that the lockdown restrictions would continue in its jurisdiction.
Sarangi said the employees of IT & ITES companies in Bhubaneswar would continue to work under home arrangement and function with a maximum of 25 per cent staffs in their offices. They would be allowed movement on showing company identity cards and emails that say they are part of the 25-per cent workforce asked to attend offices.
For the Central Government employees in Bhubaneswar, officers above the rank of Deputy Secretary resumed attending offices on Monday.