Odisha govt asks employees to adopt work from home protocol

As the 14-day lockdown comes into effect in Odisha from 9 PM Friday in four districts and Rourkela city, Odisha government has asked its employees to adopt work from home protocol using VPN (Virtual Private Network) facility to dispose official matters, a notification issued by the general administration department said.

The notification was issued a day after the state government announced its decision to impose lockdown till July 31 midnight in high case load districts such as Cuttack, Jajpur, Ganjam and Khurda comprising Bhubaneswar and Rourkela Municipal Corporation area. Most of the government offices are located in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack cities.

During the period of lockdown, the state government departments will ordinarily adopt work from home protocol for their employees using the VPN facility to dispose of official matters in OSWAS (Odisha Secretariat Workflow Automation System), it said.

The issue and receipt section of each department will function on a roster basis, the notification said.

The health and family welfare department may, however, function with the full complement of staff. Departmental control rooms will also function as usual. State IT center will render 247 support to ensure uninterrupted functioning of OSWAS and other IT and telecom services, it said.

The notification said that all employees will remain present at the headquarters to attend office at short notice and will also be available over telephone at all times.

To dispose of urgent or essential matters, secretaries of concerned administrative departments may require selected staff to attend office personally.

During the period of lockdown, physical meetings, however, shall be avoided and virtual meetings will be the default option, the notification said.

The lockdown norms have provision of exemption for disaster management establishments, district and municipal administration, police, fire service, medical establishments, utilities and essential services, it added.