Odisha declares 4th Saturdays as holidays

Bhubaneswar: Odisha government employees will now get holiday on the fourth Saturday of every month, besides the second Saturday.

In an order on Saturday, the government also announced new office hours which will be half an hour more than the existing hours.

Currently, duty hours in most offices are 10 am to 5 pm with an hour lunch break between 1 pm to 2 pm.

The new timings are not applicable to vacation departments, the order said. The announcement came hours after Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held a meeting of senior officers at the state secretariat here.

Noting that a government wins the trust of people by doing good works, Patnaik said, “We have now reached a certain stage in development and governance from where we should take a leap to the next level. People’s aspirations should motivate us to provide effective service.”

“I write your (officers) performance appraisal reports. People write my performance appraisal report. I want a link between the two. Both of us have to be accountable,” Patnaik said.

The Chief Minister said he wants to focus on employment and value addition on a big scale comparable to the best of the world.

“Make our policies the best in the country in every sector in which we see potential. If the best state in the country is providing X, let’s us do X Plus,” Patnaik told the officers.