The Kolkata government has withdrawn the “on-duty” status for state officials assigned to work under the Annapurna Yojana, a women's social welfare scheme. This decision means that booth-level officers (BLOs), Anganwadi workers, and other state employees tasked with processing and verifying beneficiary appeals will now be marked absent if they skip their regular duties at schools or other government departments to carry out these additional assignments.
Government Order Details
An official order issued to the heads of all major government departments stated: “All field-level functionaries engaged in Annapurna Yojana-related activities shall continue to perform duties relating to distribution, collection, enquiry and verification of forms as assigned by the competent authority. With immediate effect, the on-duty status extended to such functionaries for Annapurna Yojana-related activities stands withdrawn.”
According to the order, state employees will no longer be allowed to skip their primary government job roles to focus solely on the social welfare scheme assignments. Subdivisional officers (SDOs), block development officers (BDOs), municipal authorities, and supervisory officers have been instructed to ensure that “Annapurna Yojana work continues uninterrupted and receives due priority without adversely affecting regular departmental functions.”
Reaction from Government Officials
This order has not been well received by government officials, particularly BLOs, who argue that the additional workload, which was never part of their original job descriptions, is being forced upon them. A teacher at a Baguiati school, who recently completed BLO duty, received the new order and expressed confusion. “The order is confusing. It says I have to perform both duties but field visits will not be easy after spending a whole day at school,” the teacher said.
Another schoolteacher in the Shyampukur area voiced similar concerns. “As far as I know, no one in this constituency has received such an order so far. We are still continuing with SIR work, like form corrections. The work pressure is low now. At the same time, as a teacher, I am not supposed to perform field visits as part of the social welfare scheme assignments. Some of my friends in other constituencies received the order and in some cases, some of the orders were recently withdrawn. This confusion should be cleared first. According to the circular, teachers can be assigned to duties only related to census, elections and natural calamities. Then why are we being picked up for every such work?”
