In a big relief to the employees of the Andhra Pradesh state government, YSR Congress party president and chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday extended the five-day week facility for one more year.
A government order to this effect was issued by chief secretary Neelam Sawhney on Friday. The order says the employees could avail of the five-day week for one more year, i.e. up to June 28, 2021.
The facility will be applicable to all the employees of the state secretariat and heads of departments all over the state. The decision was hailed by the AP Secretariat Employees’ Association, which thanked the government for giving the relief.
The employees have been enjoying the five-day week facility for the last six years. It was introduced by the Telugu Desam Party government led by N Chandrababu Naidu in 2015, as one of the incentives given for the state government employees to shift their base from Hyderabad to Amaravati.
So, the employees started travelling from Hyderabad to Amaravati on every Monday and back from Amaravati to Hyderabad on Friday, so that they could spend with their families in Hyderabad during Saturday and Sunday.
This facility continued till Naidu was in power. After Jagan came to power in May 2019, the employees requested him to continue the five-day week; and he extended it for one year, which will come to an end by June 27.
There was a talk that Jagan might not extend the five-day week for the employees because of his plans to shift the capital to Viskahapatnam.
Moreover, he reportedly felt that the five-day week has reduced the productivity of the employees and resulted in a kind of laxity in their performance.
But following requests from the employees and uncertainty over Corona situation, the chief minister decided to extend the facility for one more year.
