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Wed, Dec 17 01:57 AM
Though
the festive season is still two weeks away, party fever already seems
to have gripped the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) office
in the city.
On Tuesday, officials got so busy in a 'retirement
party' that they completely forgot to attend to their duties.
Individuals who had come from far-off places had to wait for hours
before they could meet the officials.
Entry to the office was
restricted and the guard at the entrance directed all individuals to
come after 2 pm, as all the officials were "busy". While a few waited,
many chose to return.
Meanwhile, officials at the department claimed "there was nothing wrong with partying during office hours".
Commenting
on the issue, D R Yadav, Regional Director, CBSE said, "Yes, we were
partying in the office hours and I do not care if anyone has a problem
with that. You can publish whatever you want in the newspaper, I am
least bothered."
Talking to Newsline, a harried visitor, Prince,
said, "I reached the office around 11.30 am but the guard told me to
come after 2 pm. This is no way to treat the public as the officials
are sitting there to serve us."
A parent, Madan Lal, said
angrily, "If there had been a genuine reason for the office to remain
closed we would have understood but to harass general public for a
party is absolutely uncalled for."
Yadav also said that it was
upto the office to celebrate whenever they wished. He insisted that
there was nothing wrong in the staff partying during office hours and
suggested to the reporter, "You should ignore calls when people
complain of such things. Moreover, I am least bothered about what you
publish."
Notably, this CBSE office is the only office in the
entire region and people come from far flung places such as Himachal,
Punjab and Haryana. The office is usually open from 10 in the morning
to 5 in the evening with an hour-long lunch break in between.
