Chandigarh, May 2 || In a first-of-its-kind initiative to save electricity during the peak summer season, government offices across Punjab started working on Tuesday from 7.30 a.m. and to 2 p.m. with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann reaching the office two minutes in advance of the office work schedule.
The new office timing will remain applicable till July 15. The timings have been changed in all government offices situated in the state and Chandigarh.
Mann told the media on reaching the office that this initiative will help save 350 MW electricity on an average per day as a major chunk is consumed in the government offices. "If this experiment of change of office timing is successful and gets good response from the employee, it can be extended," he said.
The Chief Minister said the new timing would save around Rs 40 crore and there would be no power cut this season in commercial, residential and rural areas owing to power shortage. The peak electricity load starts after 1 p.m.
The Chief Minister said the change of timings would also ease traffic load in most of the cities and towns during the peak office hours.
Most of the other ministers, including Aman Arora, Harpal Cheema, Brahm Shankar, Harbhajan Singh and Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, reached the office as per the new timings.
"Good Morning Punjab...Work is Worship...Great initiative by @PunjabGovtIndia to change Office timings from 7:30am to 2pm...Small steps will lead to GREAT Achievements & Unparalleled Heights under dynamic leadership of @BhagwantMann ji...Lets all work together for this Dream," tweeted Arora on reaching office here at 7.20 a.m.
An official statement said the new timings will be implemented uniformly for all offices, including field offices, Civil Secretariat, and other head offices.
As per the government, the early morning opening of offices is expected to substantially reduce power consumption during the peak summer when the demand for electricity is the highest.