Elvino Araujo
VASCO: As Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar recently found out, getting government employees to be at work during their office hours is an arduous exercise.
But two senior government employees at Vasco, Civil Supplies Inspector H Kalangutkar and Excise Inspector S Pereira were on Monday, caught in a unique situation – not napping, but typing during office hours, not at their respective offices but at a computer and a typing institute near the Vasco station, taking typing classes, from 3 pm to 4 pm at the computer institute.
“Citizens who cannot visit the Civil Supplies office in the morning make it a point to visit in the evening, as there is not much crowd. However, the citizens are put to hardship as the Civil Supplies inspector is not found at his desk during that one hour,” informed the aggrieved citizen.
Speaking to Herald on condition of anonymity, the citizen reached out to Herald, and said he had visited the office as his transfer of name in the ration card has been pending since the last one week.
“We have to wait for days together to get our work done, but the work of the migrants and other non-Goans is done in the quickest possible time,” complained the citizen.
To verify the claims that Kalangutkar and Pereira were at the computer institute during office hours, Herald visited the institute at about 3.30 pm on Monday and found both officers along with a computer instructor busy with their lessons. Sources at the institute later confirmed to Herald that the two officers were undergoing training in typing at the institute.
When Herald visited the Civil Supplies office to meet Kalangutkar at 4.15 pm, he was not found at his desk. Enquiries with the office staff revealed that Kalangutkar had gone out on “official” work.
Efforts to contact Kalangutkar on his mobile phone proved futile, as he failed to respond to calls.
When contacted, Joint Mamlatdar Nathan Aphonso, who is holding the charge of mamlatdar said he was not aware that Kalangutkar was attending typing classes during office hours.
He assured that he will take up the matter with the director of Civil Supplies and initiate necessary action in the matter.
When contacted, Excise Inspector S Pereira, who was also present at the computer and typing institute, said he had visited the typing institute on Monday. “I am not well versed with internet and I had gone to solve a problem on how to explore the internet,” explained Pereira. Well, he has certainly got himself entangled in a web, trying to surf the World Wide Web during work hours.
