Giving massive relief to around 20 lakh government employees, the Maharashtra Government on February 12, 2020 announced that there will be 5 working day in a week for Maharashtra Government and extended 45 minutes time of working day. This will be implemented from February 29, 2020.
Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray said for many years state employees unions were struggling to get approval for 5 working day system demand from previous governments and related to the same demand, presidents of different unions met him and he made promised to them that he will soon make announcement giving approval to their demand. He also said this will improve quality of life for employees, as they will be able to spend more time with their families. This decision will also help to save electricity, petrol and also cut expenses of employees.
At present, there are 6 working day in a week and employees get leave on 2nd and 4th Saturday in every month. Currently, working hour for government employees in Mumbai are from 9.45 am to 5.30 pm and from 10 am to 5.45 pm in the rest of Maharashtra including lunch time of 30 minutes. But from February 29, 2020, there will be 5 working day in a week and working hours for government employees will be from 9.45 am to 6.15 pm including the lunch break for 30 minutes between 1 pm and 2 pm. Peons in the government departments will, however, have to report to work at 9.30 am every day. However, offices covered under Factory Rules, Industrial Disputes Act and essential services like the police and fire brigade, government colleges, polytechnic colleges, brigade, government colleges, polytechnic colleges, sanitation workers are excluded.
"With the five-day week, offices all over the state will have the same working hours. Lunch time would be for the maximum 30 minutes between 1 pm and 2 pm," the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said in a statement.
Currently, 5 working day system is there Rajasthan, Bihar, Punjab, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and central government employees. At present, the total working days for government employees in Maharashtra are 288 in a year, while the total working hours per day are 7:15 hours excluding the 30 minutes lunch time. The total work hours in a month are 174 hours and in a year 2088 hours.
"Due to the five-day work week, the total work days in a year will be 264, while the working hours per month will be 176 and 2112 hours in a year," the CMO said.
Author Satwik Sharma
