16 Jun 2019 | 05:16am IST
How will the govt tackle moonlighting government servants?
Ever wondered why there are delays in getting works completed in government offices? Have you stood in queue while the officer behind the counter appears to be busy doing something, but you don’t know what? Ever been told that the paperwork that was to be completed and delivered on a particular date is not ready and you have been called another time, and you have been forced to make umpteen trips to the office? Ever been told that the official you want to meet is unavailable and that he has gone for a cup of tea, will be back soon, but time of absence stretches to over an hour?
One reason, but not the only one surely, to most of these questions lies in the fact that for a number of government servants, the office job is not the main one. According to Labour Minister Rohan Khaunte, about 30 per cent of the government servants are involved in private business and this is affecting their performance resulting in the poor administration. Hardly surprising to the common man who has often complained of rarely finding a government official at his/her desk.
Truly, the Goenkar who has suffered at the hands of the government servant will agree with the minister that the administration is of a poor quality.
The reason for the minister making the statement is that he is now proposing that a special task force be formed to crack down on such employees and a scheme alike that of the traffic sentinels be floated to expose such government servants. The minister’s plan is that after the government workforce is cleansed of the employees who have a second job and are not giving their best to the government, new deserving persons can be recruited who will deliver on the promises of the government. His reasoning is that of three is to be proper administration and governance, then it is important that government employees deliver as public servants to the people of Goa.
What we need to know now, is whether the government will get tough on its employees who are moonlighting? If it does, this will send a message across to all that their jobs in government are at stake if they find alternative employment along with their government job. So will it?
The government workforce is huge and is a major vote bank. It would be politically inadvisable for any dispensation to churn the existing workforce on a negative side. Look at the numbers in government employment. There are approximately 66,000 government employees in the State. Less than a year ago, a minister had said that Goa has the highest per capita employment of government servants, wherein it has one person out of every 20 that is employed in government service, while the national average is one in 140. And it is growing. The huge number hasn’t, however, put the brakes on recruitment that will further bolster the number of government servants and add to the State’s financial burden in disbursing salaries.
But the time to act tough has come. Yes, if not a task force to tackle second employment of government servants, than a sentinel like plan that will expose, name and shame employees has to be taken up. The Goa Government Employees Association too has to adopt a proactive role in this and identify the employees who hold other jobs. While the association has always been fighting on behalf of the government employees, it also has the duty to ensure that its members are not breaking any of the service rules. What the common man wants is prompt and efficient service from the administration, this has to be ensured by the government and the association of employees.
