PANJIM/MARGAO: The Secretariat at Porvorim and the South Goa Collectorate office at Margao wore a deserted look as very few staff reported for work on Thursday as well, the third day of Ganeshotsav festival.
Majority of the chairs at the ground floor of the Secretariat were vacant.
Speaking to O Heraldo on the condition of anonymity, a senior official accepted that the attendance during the festival days was low.
“Yes, staff attendance is low because of the festive days. People take leave according to the Ganeshotsav they celebrate at their houses. It varies from one-and-half days to five days. This time it fell on weekdays so some people took longer leaves. As Ganeshotsav is the biggest festival in the State, it is not proper to deny somebody leaves. In fact this is the time when people visit their native villages, which in some cases are at the border of the State and it makes it difficult for them to report for work soon after the festival is over,’’ he said.
The official said some people reported for work on Thursday.
The official said that things were likely to improve from Friday.
“You will see the full strength of the staff from next week. However, work has not been affected too much as staff knows what they have to do. You can see files are being cleared. In fact there are some departments like Protocol which work daily whether there is festival or weekend leave. We manage with the staff that do not celebrate this festival. This year, Ganesh Chaturthi was on Tuesday, which tempted people to apply for long leave,’’ he said.
The State Secretariat has more than 500 staff.
At Margao, the South Goa Collectorate office also saw poor staff attendance due to the ongoing festival. According to South Goa Additional Collector-I Srinet Kothwale, nearly 70 per cent staff was on leave because of Ganeshotsav. Yet this was better than previous years which had resulted in poor attendance as 90 per cent staff used to be on leave.
However, Kothwale said that the poor attendance had not hampered the public work as also few people visit the government offices knowing that during the festival there is skeletal staff.
