BLOCKED (AP)

Bhubaneswar, June 12: The mouse may soon cease to be an entertainment tool for the Internet-obsessed employees of the state secretariat. The sight of middle-aged babus fiddling with computer keys, taking occasional sneak-peeks at “forbidden” sites would be a thing of past if the state government has its way.

With plans afoot to put in place a tracking system, the bureaucrats, who have been caught in the act once too often in the past, would find even Facebook and YouTube out of bounds during the work hours.

Sources said though Facebook and YouTube were had been banned from the secretariat a couple of years ago, the authorities were been serious about enforcing the restrictions. All that now seems set to change with Odisha Computer Application Centre (Ocac) being entrusted with the job of installing a tracking system.

“According to our information, around 10 to 15 per cent of the secretariat employees view objectionable content on the web, which makes the computers vulnerable to virus attacks. The Internet connection also slows down. So, we have floated a global tender for installing an effective anti-virus system and content filtering software on the 4,000-odd computers,” said Ocac deputy general manager (technical) S.K. Tripathy.

When this software is installed, not only will access to objectionable websites be blocked, but the employees visiting such sites would also be easily tracked down.

“Unlike the past, the computers will be controlled centrally and we would be able to find out what is being watched on which computer. This would make it easy to track down the offenders,” said Tripathy.

Government sources said access to certain websites was restricted after employees were found spending hours on them. “Not just chatting, they were also seen indulging in online stock trading. It was affecting their efficiency. The Internet connection is meant for office purposes,” said a senior officer on condition of anonymity.

He said in the past, the government had tried its best to dissuade the employees from engaging in such diversions and had even put restrictions on accessing yahoo, hotmail and gmail. However, the babus refused to mend their ways and this has now forced the authorities to take strict measures.

“We hope it works this time because it is seriously affecting the work culture at the secretariat. They can do what they wish to while at home. But in office, they have to abide by the rules,” said an officer.

Employees, however, dismissed the charge of being Internet-obsessed and neglecting their work. They said the move would project a wrong image of those working in the secretariat. “It is not true that our work is getting affected because of Facebook or YouTube. We log on to the sites only during the lunch break or when there is less workload,” said an employee.

Sources said secretariat employees’ unions might also swing into action and take up cudgels on their behalf.

“After all, the image of the state’s largest professional fraternity is at stake,” said an agitated employee.