A shock awaited the Speaker of the State Assembly Premchand Aggarawal as he found a number of employees absent while embarking on an unannounced inspection of the Assembly premises on Friday.
Taking a strong note of the absenteeism, he instructed his secretary to cut one day’s salary of all the absentees and to install biometric attendance system and CCTV cameras promptly in the premises to stop recurrence of such absenteeism which is rampant. The surprise inspection had a more serious ramification though with a case on illegal appointment in the Vidhan Sabha pending before the state High Court.
The principal purpose behind the inspection was to check whether the employees were working physically from their offices or were working on the papers only, said those privy to the Speaker.
As the news of the Speaker moving from room to room to see things for himself spread like wildfire the scared employees were found scampering to the safety of their chairs with the sword of retrenchment hanging over their heads in view of the petition being heard in the court.
However, this is the second such surprise inspection since he assumed charge of the Speaker.
His earlier inspection had left him shocked too as he had found as many as 18 officers and employees, including a review officer (RO), helper, driver, editor, addition private secretary and security guard, being not in the office. Observers say that despite the chief minister, the ministers and the Speaker embarking on unannounced inspections from time to time to stop the officers and the employees from playing truant with duties, things have not improved much on the ground.
All sections of the employees, including the medical staffers, are dodging duties at their own sweet will, leaving the visitors to wait for hours, says an observer.
The employees of the Assembly and other important Government officers were found in a downcast mood in the aftermath of the Speaker’s order to install CCTV cameras and biometric system in the Assembly premises. “They are least worried over the salary cut order. But CCTV cameras and biometric system coming up, they are a worried lot as they know that they would be caught in case they dare to skip work during the duty hours,” says an Assembly insider.
The Speaker lavished praise on the sections found running with full staff strength and said that the system is functioning because of some employees remaining sincere. During the inspection, he also heard out the grievances of the drivers.
The drivers informed the Speaker of the dilapidated condition of their waiting room with the rain water leaking from the roof and with the ceiling fans not working. They also informed the Speaker that they were not getting their uniforms in time.
Apparently moved by the drivers’ plight, the Speaker instructed the secretary to Vidhan Sabha to have the waiting room repaired and to ensure timely disbursement of their uniforms.
Among those who were with the Speaker during the inspection were the secretary, Assembly Jagdish Chandra, private secretary Rajednra Bisht and ARO Praveen Joshi.