The Orissa government has issued a fresh circular asking officials, including senior bureaucrats, to avoid drinking alcohol while in office, official sources said.
BHUBANESWAR: Perturbed over recovery of empty liquor bottles from within the state secretariat premises, the Orissa government has issued a fresh circular asking officials, including senior bureaucrats, to avoid drinking alcohol while in office, official sources said.
"Though I cannot say what provoked the government to issue such a circular, it has been sent to all departments in the state secretariat, heads of the departments and other offices," a secretary rank officer in the General Administration department said on Thursday.
According to the circular, no one was allowed to consume alcohol in office or leave bottles in the premises. Any official found violating the order could face disciplinary proceedings, the circular said.
The erring officials would be subjected to medical examination if found having consumed liquor in office, the circular said.
Chief secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy ordered the General Administration Department to issue such a circular after he came across some officials, including a few in responsible positions, in an inebriated condition, the sources said.
"Though none of them had created any scene in the office, the chief secretary felt that the practice, if not checked, could create problems in future," a senior official said.
A group of women employees of the state secretariat, had brought the matter to the notice of the chief secretary who immediately issued a fresh circular even as the Orissa Government Servants Conduct Rules, 1959, prohibited employees from taking alchol or drugs in office.
The government's recent circular came close on the heels of a restriction on use of betel or gutkha imposed by Arabinda Padhee, the director of agriculture department.
Padhee had taken action against at least 25 officials who defied the directive.
The secretary of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development Department, Tata Dutta, has gone a little ahead and deployed two peons to ensure that no one spits on the office walls.
Most of the office walls and staircases were stained after being regularly spat upon by pan chewers, the sources said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}