1177 employees found absent, salaries withheld

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Aug 24: Surprise inspections of Government offices were conducted by all Deputy Commissioners in the 10 districts of Jammu province today morning, on the directions of the Divisional Commissioner Jammu.
A total of 1177 officials and employees were found unauthorisedly absent from duties during these inspections in various offices of Jammu province.
The Deputy Commissioners of all ten districts had constituted special teams comprising of ADCs/ACR/SDMs and Tehsildars for random checking. Around 41 offices were even found locked during the inspections especially in District Rajouri Kishtwar, Reasi and Samba.
The Divisional Commissioner Jammu had been receiving several complaints from various quarters regarding absenteeism and lack of punctuality in offices for quite some time; upon which this spree of inspections were carried out across the province today.
A total of around 600 Government offices were inspected by the constituted teams from 10:30 am to 1 pm today; Deputy Commissioners themselves also inspected many offices. Show cause notices have been served on these absentee officials and employees. Meanwhile, their drawal of salary for the month of August has been withheld. Further action will be contemplated based on the reply submitted by these erring employees in the coming days.
The Divisional Commissioner Jammu has reiterated the stand of the Government that any kind of indiscipline, lack of punctuality and absenteeism shall not be tolerated.