Bhubaneswar: The office of Engineer-in-Chief (EIC) has issued an order asking its female staffers to leave office by 5.30pm on working days.
“All lady officials/workers are hereby directed to leave office by 5.30pm positively on all working days. They are also requested to work sincerely during office hour and ensure that there shall not be any pending work on their seat,” read an order issued by Superintending Engineer (P&D), Goutam Kumar Pal, Wednesday.
Pal said the order was issued as a preventive measure to ensure safety of women staff in the office. “What would happen as a consequence of this is they will not face any issues at workplace or encounter any problems when they are on way home, as there is a possibility of troubles emerging if they return late,” he said.
“I have children and family. If we will leave the office early, we will get time for them,” said Smita Satpathy, a female employee of the organisation.
However, social activist Rutuparna Mohanty said, “If a female employee is asked to leave office by 5.30pm even she has some pending work, I think this is a way of treating women as second class citizens.”
