Belthangadi: Complaining of excess workload the Dakshina Kannada (DK) Gram Panchayat’s (GP) have decided to shut down operations on April, asserted State GP Employees Union President Deviprasad Bolma on April 1.

After hoisting the flag and providing water supply for the day in the morning of April 3, all GP employees will protest in front of Mangaluru Zilla Panchayat.

Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs), secretaries, bill collectors,clerks,computer operators and all other staff members including water pump operators will join the protest on that day.

It has become impossible to manage excess workload and the additional onus is resulting in the decline of efficiency among serving staff members, they alleged.

MGNAREGA file processing, MIS operations, Aadhar seeding, SBM programme, Panchatantra operations, GEO tag, housing schemes, GPS and file management, e-payment work, Worksoft, e-swathu and email operations have to be managed by the existing staff. In addition, caste and income certificate documentations, proof of residence recommendation letters, Manaswini, old age, disabled pension application processing, Sandhya Suraksha applications have to be handled simultaneously by the same staff, they complained.

Apart from above ration card processing, addressing complaints from PDS beneficiaries and other routine work take heavy toll on their efficiency, they lamented.

Officers are not available to guide the junior staff at taluk level on managing workload and there is little cooperation from higher-ups, opine aggrieved staff members.

Taking all grievances into account, the GP staff of DK have decided to shut down GP’s on April 3 seeking immediate solutions to their problems.