Offices of the State government in Bengaluru wore a deserted look during the morning hours on Thursday, as a large number of employees, cutting across grades, stayed at home till noon owing to the solar eclipse.
Nearly 80% of employees in almost all government offices, including Vidhana Soudha, Vikasa Soudha and MS Building, skipped work in the morning hours citing the solar eclipse. Even attendance of employees in the Chief Minister’s Office in the secretariat was negligible, sources said.
Attendance was poor in offices of ministers as many ministers did not turn up for work in the State secretariat till noon.
Sources in the Secretariat said employees had breakfast after the end of the solar eclipse and started attending offices around noon. The number of applicants in government offices and BengaluruOne offices too was poor during the morning hours.
Unlike the Odisha government, the Karnataka government had not declared a holiday on Thursday. However, a good number of employees had applied for leave, sources said.
