Go virtual with meetings, chief secy tells officials

Chief Secretary P Ravi Kumar on Saturday directed all heads of departments to alter their work styles, especially the conduct of meetings, in tune with the new norm of the post-Covid world.

In a note to all additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries, secretaries, deputy commissioners and chief executives of zilla panchayats, Kumar asked them to regulate meetings over the next month or two in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19.

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“If conducting meetings is unavoidable, then they should be held with healthy social distancing and they should be conducted virtually on video,” Kumar said while pointing out that it was “inevitable and necessary” to lessen the movement of and contact with people as the second wave of the pandemic was “faster than before”.

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic that broke out last year, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa decided that his office will receive files and letters in a paperless ecosystem under ‘e-Office’. He asked all his Cabinet colleagues to follow suit.

Under ‘e-Office’, all files are scanned and uploaded onto the system for further transactions. Besides saving reams of paper, the ‘e-Office’ cuts manual movement of files and ensures speedy clearances.

Secretariat closed for public

The Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms (DPAR) on Saturday said the Vidhana Soudha, Vikasa Soudha and the M S Building - the Secretariat, collectively - will be closed for casual public visits. Only those citizens who have a prior appointment will be allowed after 3.30 pm, the DPAR circular stated. Visits by citizens who want to enquire about or follow-up on the movement of a file are prohibited, it stated.