COVID-19 Lockdown: Odisha Govt Employees to Work from Home

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government today asked its departments and offices in Ganjam, Khurda, Cuttack and Jajpur districts and Rourkela Municipal Corporation area to adopt work from home protocol for their employees during the lockdown, which will remain in force from 9PM, July 17 to midnight of July 31.

The General Administration & Public Grievance Department has issued a notification about the functioning of departments and offices during the lockdown.

“During the period of lockdown, State Government Departments will ordinarily adopt ‘work from home’ protocol for their employees using the VPN facility to dispose official matters in OSWAS. The Issue and Receipt section of each department will function on a roster basis to ensure that dak received is scanned and uploaded on OSWAS and letters issued,” the notification said.

“The Health and Family Welfare Department may function with the full complement of staff or as decided by ACS, H & FW Dept. Departmental control rooms shall also function as usual. State IT Center will render 24×7 support to ensure uninterrupted functioning of OSWAS and other IT and Telecom services,” it added.

The State Government also urged the employees to remain present at headquarters to attend office at short notice and also available over telephone at all times during this two-week period.

Secretaries of concerned administrative departments may require selected staff to attend office for urgent/essential matters. Physical meetings, however, shall be avoided and virtual meetings will be the default option during lockdown period, the notification said.
Administrative departments will decide about the scale of operations in sub-ordinate and field offices at the locations.

However, the establishments of state government which have been exempted from the purview of the order are Disaster Management, District and Municipal Administration, Police, Fire Services, Medical Establishments, Utilities and Essential Services.

The State Government has imposed lockdown in the entire jurisdictions of Ganjam, Khordha, Cuttack and Jajpur Districts and Rourkela Municipal Corporation of Sundergarh district to contain the spread of COVID-19.