Social Distancing: Odisha Govt Employees Asked To Work From Home Amid Coronavirus Threat; Details Here

Bhubaneswar:  The Odisha government has issued guidelines to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19 ) at workplace by modifying working schedule and time in government offices and private establishments between March 20 and March 31.

The notification issued by the General Administration and Public Grievance Department on Thursday stressed social distancing and issued these guidelines for protecting people working in different government establishments, including State Secretariat, Directorates, District Level Offices and Sub-district Level Offices as well as in private establishments including shops, workshops and factories:

1) All Group-C and Group-D employees except persons identified by the Head of the
Office in the State Secretariat and Directorates may be allowed to confine at home
during this period.

2) Group A and B Officers will be required to attend the office.

3) Heads of the Government Departments may give effect to roster / rotation of staff considering the requirement of smooth management of Government work.

The employees who are allowed to stay at home during this period must confine
themselves to home and not move around. The employees allowed to stay at home
will not participate in any congregations / gatherings restricted by Administration
during this period. In case of any violation by an employee during this period, the
entire period will be treated as leave without pay’.

2) VPN facility may be extended to key officials in Secretariat and Directorates to allow
them to work from home in OSWAS if required in future.

3) Directors, Collectors, SPs, Heads of District Level Offices as well as field offices are
authorized to decide on the number of employees who are required to come to the office during this period considering the workload and deliverables. They may
decide on roster / rotation etc. in deciding the above.

4) The personnel working in office during this period may be provided with hand
sanitizers and soaps.

5) The cleaning staff / personnel must be provided with adequate quantity of sanitizing
materials for maintaining optimum sanitation level in the offices.

6) The Agencies like Police, Fire, Jail, Health etc. are essential services. They will take
all precautionary measures for self protection in their services. They are not
covered under the above stipulation. Adequate number of Personal Protective
Equipment (PPE) may be kept in readiness to allow the personnel of these
establishments to be pressed into service for evacuation and attending to the
patients of the COVID- 19.

7) Private establishments may be advised to allow their employees to work from home
as far as possible and feasible. If working in office/ shop floors/ commercial
establishments is essentially required, such work may be managed with minimum
number of employees during this period.