All Women Staff In Odisha EIC Office To Leave Office By 5:30 PM- ‘Decision Smacks Of Gender Bias’!

Bhubaneswar: At a time when the nation and your entire globe is tenaciously striving in the direction of gender parity, an order issued by the workplace of Engineer-in-chief (Civil), Odisha asking all ladies workers below the institution to go away workplace earlier than sundown has evoked a combined response. While just a few workers welcomed the choice, social activists have strongly questioned the seriousness of the organisation with regard to constructing gender equality.
“All lady officials or staff are hereby requested to leave office by 5:30 PM positively on all the working days. They are also requested to work sincerely during office hours and ensure that there shall not be any pending work on their seats,” talked about the official order dated January 27, 2021.
Soon, a number of considerations cropped up from numerous quarters. Are ladies not safe within the involved workplace? Have any of them complained of dealing with points going dwelling late? Or is it as a result of one thing’s taking place behind the scenes which can not happen when ladies colleagues are round?
Speaking to OTV on the leave-office-early transfer, Goutam Kumar Pal, the Superintending Engineer (P&D) stated, “They should wrap up all their work latest by 5:30 PM and leave the office. What would happen as a consequence of this is they will not face any issues at workplace or encounter any problems when they are on way to home, as there is a possibility of troubles emerging if they return late.”
“It is for their good. There is nothing to worry about. The decision has been taken as a preventive measure to ensure their safety,” the official acknowledged.
Hailing the choice, Smita Satapathy, who works on the workplace stated, “It will likely be of nice assist to us. Back dwelling we’ve a household. It is all the time good if we’re in a position to spend extra time with all members of the family.
Another feminine worker Amina Jena stated, “Perhaps, this decision seems good as well as bad. Bad because, if all of us leave by 5:30, work will remain pending. Next day if we begin from where we had left, it will eventually double our workload. So it is better to finish all work before leaving. Sir hasn’t told us to leave the desk before completing work, which means we have to finish the job before 5:30 PM.”
Social activists have, nevertheless, criticised the transfer. “Is this how Odisha is implementing Naveen Patnaik government’s ‘Maa Ku Samman’ call? Men and women, both are given top responsibilities in the State, then why are such rules being imposed?” questioned activists.
Women and little one rights activist, Rutuparna Mohanty stated, “They (the government) cannot stop atrocities, so they will try to impose restrictions on women to live freely. This is the mindset. If women are stopped to work beyond 5:30 in the evening, then there is naturally something wrong with the system which is treating women as second class citizens.”