The Odisha government has come out with a plan to boost the morale of its employees by offering them incentives like foreign trips and reimbursement of tuition fees of their children if their performances in the battle against coronavirus are found to be good.

“Without the support of the employees, the state cannot win the war against Covid-19 or other natural disasters. They have to put in their best. For this they have to be highly motivated,” said a senior official.

The government notification with regard to the incentives was released on Monday, a day ahead of employees being asked to join their respective offices in full strength. For the past two months, offices have been running with skeletal staff but with a super-cyclone threat looming over 12 districts, the government has asked all its employees to report for duty from Tuesday so that official work can be done in full strength.

As per the notification, the foreign travel facility will be available to grade A and B employees. “LTC (Leave Travel Concession) to countries which are connected directly by air from Bhubaneswar with 30 days leave salary will be given,” said the notification. Employees will also be sent on short term training abroad under the aegis of DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training). “State government may take additional training slots from DoPT by bearing the cost if required, to sponsor the selected employees,” officials said. They can also get postings in any department or station out of the three choices given by him or her.

Sources said the employees can avail trips to countries like Singapore, Bangkok and Dubai as these cities are connected with direct flights from Bhubaneswar. While grade A and B employees are entitled to a foreign trip, group C and D employees will get cash incentives and other facilities.

As per the notification, group C employees will get cash rewards equivalent to the basic salary of maximum up to two months or reimbursement of tuition fees of maximum two children, in government medical, engineering, technical or professional courses. Group D employees will also avail the benefits. Committees at different level would be constituted to judge the performance of the employees.

The performance of Grade A employees will be judged by a committee headed by chief secretary. The evaluation of performance will be based on the principle of 5T (Technology, Transparency, Team work, Time and Transformation) which the Naveen Patnaik government introduced recently. The committee will sit once in a year, preferable in January.

Not more than one per cent of the employee of a particular cadre will be recommended by the committee for consideration by the appointing authority. In case the cadre strength is less than 100 no more than one member will be considered for a recommendation in a particular year.

Only those employees who don’t have any adverse remarks in their Performance Appraisal Report (PAR) during the preceding five years will be considered for evaluation. “ The case of an employee will not be taken into consideration if he or she has been awarded any major punishment in the five years preceding the assessment period and if they have failed to obtain affirmative clearance letters from vigilance and criminal departments,” officials said.

Damburudhara Ghana, an employee of state secretariat, said: “It is a welcome step taken by the government. It will boost the morale of the employees. Earlier, people used to go foreign trip for official purposes only but never be allowed to undertake such trips for holidaying. Financial incentives will also go a long way towards improving the performance of the employees.”