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Work-from-home circular to be issued for non-essential public servants

24 May 2022

BY SAFRAH FAZAL A circular was set to be issued by the Ministry of Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and Local Government yesterday (24), requesting public officers, with the exception of those working in essential services, to work from home in view of the current fuel crisis in the country. Speaking to The Morning yesterday, Secretary to the Ministry J.J. Rathnasiri confirmed that the circular would be issued soon. When asked as to whether any special mechanism would be put in place to ensure that public sector employees in the essential services would be provided with adequate fuel on time, Rathnasiri said that no special mechanism has been proposed thus far to ensure that fuel is provided to essential services on time. Following the increase in fuel prices yesterday, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera Tweeted that working from home will be encouraged in an effort to minimise the use of fuel and to manage the ongoing energy crisis. The public sector workforce will henceforth be called to work from today (25) under the directions of the heads of the relevant institutions. Previously, Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena had submitted a set of proposals to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe suggesting also that public and private sector employees be encouraged to work from home. Last week, Premier Wickremesinghe informed public servants of non-essential services to not report for duty on 20 May, in light of the prevailing shortage of fuel in the country.


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