Minister for Handloom and Sericulture Bikash Debbarma was surprised by the absence of employees at the department’s headquarters in Indranagar, outskirts of the capital city on Wednesday.

Out of total 73 officials and employees, around 20 were not present at the tables when the Minister surprisingly landed in his department’s headquarters. Many put question mark on the much-hyped good governance in the government’s department and that too at the headquarters.

As usual, the enraged Minister asked the Director to issue show cause notice to those officials and employees who did not turn up in time in the office. Instruction was also given to the Director to hold up pay of some errant employees.

“I suddenly came to the headquarters of Handlood, Handicrafts and Sericulture department and saw many employees came in the office in late. I asked the Director to take action against those who joined the office in late. I have already asked the Director to initiate department proceeding against the employees who fail to submit reply in response to the show cause notice”, he said.

Alerting the escaping employees about lapse in duty, the Minister said stern action will be taken against the erring staffers because the department plays key role in boosting rural economy. He further added the department will get a new building at Indranagar as the sanction has been cleared by the government.

Earlier, Minister for SC Welfare Sudhangshu Das visited several offices of Fisheries and Animal Resource Development department where he found employees were not coming to the office at per the government norms. Although actions were taken but the practice of lapse in duty is still continuing the government departments.