Do holidays put Govt to sleep?

There are about 14 lakh state government employees, including teachers, in Tamil Nadu. But seldom does the government meet its targets on time or prevent loss barring in times of crisis like a cyclone or a tsunami or a caste clash. With nearly six months of holidays, a government servant works only half the days in a year. "There are days and weeks when some departments do not function at all. If public holidays fall in the middle of a week, ingenious babus make a club sandwich of holidays and casual leave and disappear for a week," pointed out a senior official.

Another senior IAS officer said, "We had 20 days of casual leave earlier. This was reduced from 20 to 12 when the number of working days was reduced from six to five a week about 20 years ago. The rationale behind giving two weekly offs was to dissuade people from taking mid-week holidays. A look at the attendance of government servants in recent years would show this purpose has been defeated. People now enjoy two weekly offs and take additional holidays too. A developing country cannot afford to give two days of weekly off."

One reason why government servants take too much leave is that there is no target as far as their output is concerned. There is neither any system to evaluate their productivity.

Earlier this year, the state government had resolved to implement the "Sevottam" model of administration, clubbing service (seva) and excellence (uttam). This quality management framework was introduced with a view to redefining the role of government employees and providing a citizencentric administration. Most importantly, it aimed at defining services and clients for each department and developing capability among employees to achieve high standards in administration . Under the scheme, the government also envisaged an independent monitoring system to evaluate the performance of the employees. But the government has made little headway on this, said a senior secretary.

A secretariat official said in a lighter vein, "I feel it is good to have a lot of government holidays. If all the officials stay off the roads, the rest of the public can move around freely. Moreover, even on working days, many offices wear a deserted look. Only fans and lights are switched on. If there are computers in the room, even the airconditioners are switched on. They only add to the government's power bill."

Among the long list of 37 departments, hardly four to five - police, revenue, transport, health and panchayat unions - make their employees put in hard work, forgoing at times even their weekly offs or holidays. While drivers and conductors are covered by the Factories Act and have to work even on holidays, the office staff in transport corporations enjoy their holidays. Similarly, when doctors work on holidays , their colleagues in the directorate of health services and directorate of medical education take it easy. Some officers, especially in police and commercial tax departments , voluntarily come to work even on holidays.

BUCKING THE TREND

Holiday or not, some departments work round-theclock to ensure that the state machinery runs smoothly

Police dept

Police officers, at times, go without proper food and shelter for several days, when they are deployed to handle law and order problems in sensitive areas. They seldom get time to spend with families on holidays and festivals. Even senior officials can be seen touring the city at odd hours to keep criminal activities under check. What keeps them up and kicking is a power nap in the afternoon, which they try not to miss

Revenue dept

Those working in the revenue department are always on their toes. They are a vital link in the government-public interface. During any kind of emergency, they are the first to reach out to people. Even during times of normalcy, district collectors carry out inspection of works during weekends and holidays. A district collector, on an average, signs about 100 files and he could land in serious trouble if he does it mechanically, without reading the documents

Health dept

Doctors and paramedics need to be available round the clock. Doctors are woken up from their sleep in the dead of the night in case of emergencies. Doctors start work early in the day as most operations are performed early in the morning. Most often, they are also forced to cut short holidays and return to work in case of emergencies

Transport corpn

Drivers and conductors in government-owned transport corporations do not have the luxury of taking prolonged leaves or frequent holidays. Their work load increases during holidays because more number of people use public transport on such days. Bus crew cannot afford to sleep at will either, for, their own lives and those of passengers will be put at risk

A CASE OF PLENTY

THE STATE'S HOLIDAY CALENDAR IS SURE TO GLADDEN MANY A GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL

Of the 188 days of leave granted by the government, 4 holidays fall on Saturdays and 4 on Sundays. That still entitles employees to 180 days of leave.

Employees are also eligible for up to six months of leave on half pay and women are eligible for six months maternity leave. Study leave without pay can also be availed for a period of up to 2 years, without any disruption in service or seniority

Courtesy:TOI