El Nino: Telangana employees seek five-day work week

Telangana government employees have reiterated their demand for the introduction of five working days a week as the State Government is struggling hard to mitigate the adverse impact of the El Nino phenomenon.

They said implementation of five working days a week can save water, power, reduce pollution on roads and enhance efficiency of the employees. Moreover, there will be no burden on the exchequer with the decision which will in fact benefit it. In a representation submitted to the Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju, the employees suggested that the office timing be between 10 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., seven and a half hours a day.

This was in comparison with the current working hours of 6.30 hours between 10.30 a.m. and 5 p.m. for six days totalling to 39 hours a week and employees can be asked to work an extra hour once a week, which would benefit the Government. This will be on par with the Central Government departments/institutions.

The Joint Action Committee of Telangana Employees, Gazetted Officers, Teachers, Workers and Pensioners which submitted the representation, recalled that Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy too has appealed to the people to save water, power & fuel/oil and implement energy conservation measures. The Central Government was also taking various steps in this regard to reduce dependence on imported petroleum and increase the use of sustainable public transport by the Government employees.

Accordingly, the Joint Action Committee requested the Chief Secretary to apprise the Chief Minister about the need to introduce five working days a week so that it could help save water, power and fuel, and also increase the efficiency of the employees.