From this month, government staff who leave office on their last working day on attaining superannuation will be dropped home in government vehicles.
Government offices generally organise get-together of staff on the last day of a month when the retiring staff call it a day. They are offered a bouquet or a shawl, group photographs taken and snacks shared , all by pooling money from their pockets. And that is all the good memories they carry home.
On Sunday, the Telangana government came up with a decorative idea to honour the retiring staff. Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao asked the district Collectors at their conference to drop them home in government vehicle.
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Mr. Rao made the suggestion in the context of asking Collectors to see to it that the officers and lower staff did not have to make frequent visit to them for retirement benefits. All their benefits should be handed over on the last day in a “cover”. They would feel proud if they were sent home in a car.
The Chief Minister also wanted the Collectors not to delay government benefits for general public. They should visit individual houses for payment of ex gratia when any of the inmates died in lightning strike or other natural calamities.
Mr. Rao’s advice on “car-drive” was welcomed in official circles. They drew parallel to a tradition in the office of the Director-General of Police when the incumbent retired. After all the goodies are exchanged at the time of changeover, subordinate IPS officers pull with ropes over their shoulders an open-top jeep that carried the outgoing DGP till the gate. The bottom line is : “hum aap ko apne khandon pe rakhte hain” (we carry you on our shoulders post-retirement).
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