Keeping the interests of Andhra employees who work at the Amaravati secretariat in mind, the Andhra Pradesh government has extended the five-day week policy for another year. Jagan Mohan Reddy's government on Thursday took a decision to extend the five-day week for another year and a Government Order (GO) was released with regard to the same.
According to the GO , the extension is applicable to all the employees of Secretariat, head of the department, corporations and government organisations that are functioning in Amaravati capital region. The working hours will be the same as earlier from 10 am to 5.30 pm.
RP Sisodia , Principal Secretary to Government of Andhra Pradesh has ordered all the departments of Secretariat and heads of the departments and other government organisations to take necessary action to accord the extension facility.
Following the bifurcation of the state, Andhra employees whose families are based in Hyderabad were facing issues due to lack of transport and accommodation facilities in Amravati. In view of their concerns, the TDP government introduced the five-day week' policy in May 2016.
The TDP government took the decision following requests by the Secretariat employees association and Joint Action Committee. The employees had sought to work five days in a week as the new capital did not have proper transport, accommodation facilities as well as the fact that their children couldn’t shift to Amaravati as many were studying professional courses.
The five-day week was later extended three times by the then government in view of the requests from the employees. The last extension, which was given in June 2018 maintained that it will continue for a year.
This year, the employees associations reached out to government in last week of May seeking extension for five day week, they have reiterated that the government should consider the studies of employees children in Hyderabad and unavailability of accommodation and transport facilities in the new capital.