Bhubaneswar: Due to the forecast of hot and humid weather conditions in Odisha, the administrations in Khurda and Boudh districts have revised the working hours for government offices starting Friday to protect employees and the public from extreme afternoon heat.
Khurda Collector Amrit Ruturaj announced that all state government offices, along with Revenue and Executive Magistrate courts in the district, will operate from 7 am to 1 pm without a lunch break. This schedule will remain in effect until June 15.
However, these new timings do not apply to government offices in Bhubaneswar, the state capital.
In a similar vein, Boudh Collector Bibhuti Bhushan Nayak has instructed that all government offices in Boudh district will function from 7 am to 1 pm without a lunch break, starting April 10 and continuing until further notice. Officials have urged citizens to complete their official tasks during the morning hours to minimize exposure to the intense heat.
Other districts, such as Kalahandi, have also adopted early morning office hours until mid-June, as temperatures in western and interior regions, including Boudh, Balangir, and Jharsuguda, are expected to exceed 40°C.
These actions are in line with a broader advisory issued by the Odisha Labour and Employees’ State Insurance Department in late March, which restricts outdoor work from 11 am to 3 pm from April 1 to June 15 across government, private, industrial, and construction sectors to prevent heatstroke cases. District collectors have been authorized to implement additional localized measures based on prevailing conditions.
To further address the impact of the heatwave, school timings for all government, government-aided, and privately managed educational institutions have been adjusted to 6:30 am to 10:30 am and will remain in effect until the start of the summer vacation.
