Team Herald
PANJIM: State government offices continued to remain almost deserted as employees availed of leave extending their Ganesh Chaturthi holiday.
An annual phenomenon, where government employees go on long leave for Ganesh Chaturthi in Goa, the period often sees little work being done in offices. The festival, which brings families and communities together, keeps half of the State machinery at a halt and in a festive mood.
Goa Government Employees Association (GGEA) said the situation is an annual occurrence during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival. “I will say over 50 percent of the government staff avails rightful leave just to be with the family in a festive mood,” GGEA President John Nazareth said. He added that most of the Hindu employees accumulate their leave for Chaturthi, much as Catholic employees do for the Christmas period.
For a week, in most government departments, excluding Health, Electricity, Police and Fire and Emergency Services, there is an acute shortage of staff to handle the daily affairs of the office.
All departments were open after two days of the chaturthi holiday but a large number of employees were not seen in the offices. This leads to problems to those who urgently need certificates. However, people, aware of the annual situation, preferred to wait until next week to visit government offices.
Most of the staff is either resuming on Monday and some will do so only on Wednesday, as Tuesday is also a holiday. Schools will restart on Monday, but some have taken a discretionary holiday on Monday and will open on Wednesday, sources said.
