West Bengal govt employees to work in shifts due to lack of transport & to maintain social distancing

West Bengal government employees will work in shifts from now in order to get back to a new normal in post-lockdown scenario.

Two shifts have been scheduled — one from 9.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m., and another from 12.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee made this announcement at Nabanna, the state administrative headquarters, on Wednesday.

In the post-lockdown scenario, this arrangement is being made is to handle the huge pressure of state employees who are finding it difficult to reach office on time as there aren’t sufficient buses and other modes of transport. Buses are currently running with only seated passengers and higher fare. No one is allowed to stand in buses. This has led to long queues in bus stops and terminuses.

To handle this pressure, the state is thus allotting shifts for employees. This will also help maintain social distancing in office. Earlier, the government had decided to not mark an employee “late” even if s/he reached office late by an hour. From the first day of unlocking the lockdown across the country from June 1, people have been facing difficulty in reaching office as the demand for public transport far exceeds the number of buses available on the roads.

Though private buses, minibuses, taxis are plying, there is still a shortage of buses as large number of people depend on public transport and maintaining social distancing has not been easy in populated cities across the country.

Banerjee also appealed to private organisations to allow their employees to either work in shifts or work from home as much as possible.