Fridays should be half-day to save electricity

Published on: Sunday, April 16, 2017

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By LMP
MANY measures have been taken to curb unnecessary expenditure in the civil service.

Many claims made by the civil servants before this have been removed or substantially reduced.

Many promotion exercises have also been frozen.

Public servants are urged to cut down, even on the use of stationery. They are also constantly reminded to turn off the lights and air-conditioners at their work place when not in use.

Courses have been reduced to less than 50pc. Drinks or food are not served at meetings anymore.

All these steps will definitely save some money for the Government, although some of this is hurting the civil servants. There is one more way the Government can cut down expenditure in the public service.

Government offices have their break for lunch on Fridays from 12.15pm – 2.45pm.

This is to enable the Muslims to go for their prayers.

When office resumes at 2.45pm, it is very clear that productivity is very low from 2.45pm to 5pm.

Fewer members of the public seek the service of government departments on Friday afternoons.

Many feel it is too late and decide to come on Monday, which explains why all departments are crowded on Monday mornings.

Now, the wastage here is the electricity used to maintain the office, despite it being very unproductive.

Instead why doesn’t the Government just declare Friday as half day for civil servants who are not in the critical category? This will save a lot of money and time for the Government.

The civil servants, too, can just go for prayers and go straight home to avoid all the unnecessary jams after work.

Maybe on the other days, working hours can be increased, say, by 15 minutes.

Wouldn’t that be better?

LMP