CAQUINATED: Employees of the Village Secretariat are under mental stress as they are being “abused and harassed” by their superiors. They say that for their superiors, bossism comes first and then work.
In order to achieve goals and implement governance schemes, superiors are directly targeting the secretariat employees without giving them enough time and without taking technical problems into consideration.
Many of these employees were profitably employed by private companies and corporate firms. They left those jobs and joined the town secretarial jobs.
“We were attracted by government jobs and the prospects of living with our parents and relatives. But we are deeply confused and upset after seeing the reviews from superiors,” said an employee.
Many of these employees are B.Tech, M.Tech, M.Sc, MBA graduates or postgraduates and worked with corporate companies. They are deeply distressed now because of the attitudes of their superiors, they say.
According to them, superiors do not have leadership qualities to take jobs away from employees and what they do is simply scold, abuse and harass.
“When we worked in corporate companies, the company gave us tasks. We completed them on time and got recognition and even incentives. In government positions, superiors assign multiple tasks at once and hold review meetings three or four times a day. In such a situation, how can an employee dedicate himself to his work and achieve his goals? an employee of a secretariat wondered.
He said that during the reviews, superiors “are using insulting words against us, like scoundrels, useless, fools,” etc.
“In October, a senior officer used such language with a horticulture assistant and warned him that his service would be terminated. Unable to bear the humiliation, employee Subhash Varma committed suicide,” said an employee.
Ten days ago, a superior scolded an employee of the agriculture department and used harsh words. He also tried to end his life. But, he was saved.
“The employees of the secretariat are young. In today’s generation, not even parents scold their children or educate them in private corporate schools. Superiors should give up their old-fashioned chieftaincy and supervisory methods,” said an NGO leader.
Employees cited examples of their tasks. At the Department of Agriculture, officials gave them only limited time and instructions to complete e-crop and e-KYC registrations. “But some of the farmers don’t want to reveal their OTPs due to alerts from mobile operators and bank officials. This was a horrible task for the employees. They couldn’t complete the task on time. This angered the superiors, as they had to show their goals to the government.”
In the municipalities too, the staff of the district secretariat face these kinds of problems and experience mental agony. Mind experts said such employees should be counseled to withstand mistreatment from their superiors.
The state president of the agricultural extension officers’ union, Venu Mahdav, said superiors should stop harassing and threatening employees. Instead, these young people should be motivated and encouraged to achieve goals.
“Otherwise, they may get angry and try to end their lives. The government should take the issue seriously and rectify the situation,” she added.
