NEWS : Odisha Secretariat

Secretariat Staff Want 5 Working Days A Week

Monday, 17 October 2016

The Odisha Secretariat Service Association (OSSA) has demanded that the State Government accept their proposal for holding five working days instead of six in a week.

“The Union Government and many States have been holding five working days now in order to increase work efficiency among employees and to check fuel consumption-related pollution and the govenrment can save power, petrol and diesel," they said.

The Odisha Government should adopt the same practice,” demanded the OSSA in a letter to the GA Department Special Secretary.

The association had made such a demand in 2008, but the Government didn’t accept it.

Now, States like Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Punjab, UP and Goa and all Central Government offices, including RBI and nationalised banks, are implementing five working days. The latest was in the row was Andhra Pradesh, which implemented the new system of working from May, 2016.

“More work burden makes employees less efficient. Once one more day is availed to them, they will be more energised and will work more efficiently,” argued the association in the letter. However, it suggested that the five working days should not be applicable to employees of education, health and police departments. 

The association pointed out that five-day a week work has not affected the activities in places where it has been implemented.

This apart, the association said the employees would also be able to avoid stress level in their lives and better manage domestic pressure. If the state Government implements five-day a week work, the employees would get additional 36 holidays annually.

Question leak alleged in ASO exam

November 30 2015

Questions of the recruitment test for Assistant Section Officer were leaked during the third sitting of the examination at Loyola School in the city Sunday, one candidate has alleged.

The candidate has claimed that the seal of the general awareness question paper he had been given had been tampered with and said that this was also the case with some other candidates. “The seals of the question papers that I and a few other candidates were given were broken when we were handed the papers. I have written to the centre superintendent through the school principal to inquire into the matter,” said the candidate.

There were several irregularities in such examinations, said another candidate on the condition of anonymity. “There are agencies and people who take lots of money to prepare students in line with the examination. The questions are already leaked to them through some errant officials,” he alleged.

Orissa Public Service Commission (OPSC) chairman Satyakam Mishra said respective district collectors are responsible for the smooth conduct of the examination. “We provide the materials to the district authorities. They are responsible for taking care of the booklets and question papers,” said Mishra.

The test started Sunday. There were three papers on the opening day — English, essay writing and general awareness. The test will conclude Monday.

More than 40,000 people are said to have taken the test that was conducted in seven zones in the city. A total of 2 lakh candidates were to appear for the examination across the state. Test sites have been set up at all district headquarters.

The notification of the test was issued in 2012. After setting the dates twice, OPSC cancelled the examination.

ASO SHORTAGE HITS WORK AT SECRETARIAT

Friday, 09 October 2015

With a whopping number of Assistant Section Officer (ASO) posts lying vacant, official work in all the departments at the State Secretariat has been severely hit, putting more pressure on the senior officers.

Out of 1,741 sanctioned posts, only about 300 ASOs are currently working at the Secretariat and the remaining 1,441 posts are lying vacant. Though, a notification to recruit ASOs had been advertised in 2011, yet no selection has been made. Only 40 to 50 Junior Assistants waiting for the promotion to the ASO post now, sources said.

Though Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been emphasising on filling up of vacant posts at monthly review meetings, procedural complications have not made way out for the recruitments, sources added.

Of a total 2,800 Junior and Senior Assistant posts, nearly 1,000 have been abolished as part of the cost cutting measure of the State Government.

However, the Government had created the ASO posts combining both Junior and Senior Assistant posts of the Class III rank as part of its Administrative Reforms in 2008.

Nearly 20 years ago, the Odisha Public Service Commission had sent a list of names of eligible candidates for Junior Assistant posts for the Secretariat. It also advertised for recruitment of ASOs in 2011 but no selection has been done so far.

As per rules, if the Government will have to increase the minimum age limit by years till the recruitment takes place.

Accordingly, the OPSC advertised by raising the age limit for the candidates as per an order of Orissa High Court with regard to selection in Odisha Civil Services.

Recently, the State Administrative Tribunal (SAT) has also directed for age relaxation for the ASO posts and a final verdict is awaited from the High Court where the SAT order has been challenged.

To keep pace with the work load, the Government is managing works with the help of Data Entry Operators, contractual staff and the retired people appointed as OSDs.

The pressure is immense on the staff in all the departments due to the launch of several Government schemes.

Cobra spotted near Odisha Secretariat main gate

Saturday, March 03, 2012

A four-feet-long Indian cobra was rescued near the main gate of the State Secretariat here on Saturday. According to security officer in charge of the Secretariat S Mahali, at around 11 am the snake was spotted by security staff in the lawn of the Secretariat near the main gate meant for VVIPs entrance. As the security staff chased it, the snake played hide-and-seek.

Apprehending danger from the reptile, they called founder of Snake Helpline Subhendu Mallick. Mallick and his team captured the cobra and left it in a forest on the outskirts of the city.

Finally Odisha Secretariat gets WiFi connectivity

Tuesday, 8 May 2012

Finally Odisha Secretariat gets WiFi connectivity. The Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC) has ensured that the States power corridor is fitted with 150 powerful antennas which would enable offices of various departments of the Government to have WiFi connectivity.

The WiFi system has been installed with an investment of `50 lakh, which also covers all the conference rooms. People attending conferences at Secretariat would be connected with internet facilities.

Similarly, visitors to the Secretariat would have to avail a password from the DoIT. A designated e-Governance Officer would allow them the password for one hour, by which they would be able to avail of the internet facilities.

Odisha Secretariat staffs demands roll back of ACPS

Thursday, January 03, 2013

Demanding withdrawal of the revised Assured Career Progression Scheme (ACPS), hundreds of staffs including section officers (SO), assistant section officers (ASO) and desk officers (DO) under the banner of Odisha Secretariat Service Association (OSSA)today staged a dharna at the main entrance gate of the State Secretariat here.  Following the protest, chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who had given his nod to the ACPS yesterday, withdrew his decision. “The Chief Minister has assured us to roll back the decision which was made through bureaucratic pressure and without the knowledge of the finance minister. The chief minister would discuss the issue with our representative within one week to find a possible solution,” said Krushna Chandra Mohapatra, president OSSA. The striking employees lodged their protest against the decision of the state government to implement the revised scheme, which allegedly goes against the interest of the officials as it has restricted grade pay of the officials during their promotion. They demanded to implement the grade pay system according to the Central guidelines. It may be mentioned here that as per the ACPS, the grade pay of the Secretariat officers would go up from Rs 1400 to Rs 9,500 at different levels in accordance with their promotion.  But in a recent resolution, the state government has decided to add Rs 4,400 GP system between Rs 4,200 and Rs 4,600 GP which left the State Secretariat officers fuming. Following the demonstration, agriculture minister Debi Prasad Mishra and panchayati raj minister Kalpataru Das, besides several IAS officers, could not enter into the Secretariat premises.

CM Naveen Patnaik begun clearing files through 

Odisha Secretariat Workflow Automation System (OSWAS) 

Saturday, January 04, 2014

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has begun clearing files through the Odisha Secretariat Workflow Automation System (OSWAS). The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) has adopted the new system, which aims at lessening the paper works, said Chief Secretary JK Mohapatra. Mohapatra while chairing an All-Secretaries Meet on Friday revealed the information to the Secretaries and advised them to adopt the IT tool and technology for efficient administration. While most of the officials are showing interest in this regard, a few are still not convinced about the effectiveness of the OSWAS, leading to slowdown of the process in their departments, sources said. The Chief Secretary made it abundantly clear that the OSWAS would be fully operational as the Government intendeds to automate the functions of the departments, said a senior Secretary. Development Commissioner, Injeti Srinivas would review the progress of OSWAS on January 16, the meeting decided. With the Chief Minister is clearing the files in the OSWAS, now the other Ministers would also send the files to the CMO in the OSWAS, said the sources. So, the Private Secretaries of the Ministers would be trained and would be provided passwords to handle e-files, said IT Commissioner-cum-Secretary Madhu Sudan Padhi. Padhi informed the Secretaries’ meeting that due to physical barriers, the Departments like Tourism & Culture and Sports & Youth Affairs are lagging behind in implementing the OSWAS. Both the departments are outside the State Secretariat building. However, the Department of Information Technology is making all-out efforts to connect all the departments with the OSWAS, said Padhi.

Fire breaks out at Odisha Secretariat

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Fire broke out at the store room of Home department in the State Secretariat on Monday. Fortunately, no injury or loss of life was reported. As soon as the news spread, many employees came out of the Secretariat. After getting information, senior police officials rushed to the spot. A fire brigade unit rushed to the spot and doused the flames after breaking open the door of the store room. Many files and documents were gutted in the fire mishap. The blaze originated following an electric short circuit in the department’s store room.