{"id":23217,"date":"2026-06-19T13:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/?p=23217"},"modified":"2026-06-19T13:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T13:24:13","slug":"in-a-rush-to-catch-the-train-public-left-waiting-for-services-at-the-food-department","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/2026\/06\/19\/in-a-rush-to-catch-the-train-public-left-waiting-for-services-at-the-food-department\/","title":{"rendered":"In a Rush to Catch the Train? Public Left Waiting for Services at the Food Department"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Kailashahar,Anupam Pal<\/strong>: Is a government office meant to serve the public, or to operate according to the convenience of its employees? This question is increasingly being raised by citizens after witnessing the situation at the Food Department office in Kailashahar on Friday. The office was open, the tables and chairs were in place, files were stacked neatly\u2014but most of the employees were nowhere to be seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A visit to the office on Friday afternoon revealed a chaotic picture. While numerous citizens had gathered for various official matters, most seats remained vacant. Allegations suggest that an unofficial \u201chalf-day office culture\u201d has been continuing here for a long time. Earlier, when Saturdays were half-working days, many employees reportedly left around noon to catch trains from Kumarghat. Now that the state government has declared both Saturday and Sunday as holidays, complaints have emerged that this \u201chalf-day culture\u201d has effectively shifted to Fridays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to local sources, many employees of the Food Department are from Agartala and other districts. As a result, some allegedly leave the office early on Fridays to extend their weekend break. In some cases, employees are reportedly absent from the office since morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ultimate sufferers are ordinary citizens. People seeking ration card corrections, transfers, and other essential services are being forced to wait for hours. Ironically, finding the concerned employees has become more difficult than completing the actual work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A young resident of Tilabazar expressed his frustration, stating that his ration card had been shifted from his local fair-price shop to a shop in Deorachhara. Despite trying for the past three months to have it transferred back, no action has been taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said, \u201cI have been roaming around the office since noon. It is now almost 3 p.m., and there is no employee anywhere. Whom should I complain to? Travelling from Tilabazar to Deorachhara requires hiring a reserved vehicle. It is unreasonable to spend so much money just to collect 20 kilograms of rice. Yet a simple ration card transfer has remained pending for three months.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He was not alone in his complaints. Several other visitors claimed they had been waiting since 10:30 a.m. without receiving any assistance. Seeing most desks and chairs empty, many questioned how a government office could function in such a manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When contacted regarding the matter, Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Shantimoy Debbarma stated that the claim that the office was completely employee-free was not accurate. According to him, some staff members were present. However, those who were absent have already been issued show-cause notices, and the matter has been reported to the higher authorities of the Food Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nevertheless, questions remain. If the administration was already aware of the issue, how did such irregularities continue for so long? Citizens allege that the negligence of a few employees is tarnishing the image of the entire department and causing unnecessary hardship to the public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Further allegations suggest that similar irregularities are not limited to the Food Department alone, but are also present in several other government offices across the district. The public now waits to see whether the show-cause notices will lead to meaningful action or simply remain another piece of paperwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After all, people visit government offices to receive services not to search for employees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kailashahar,Anupam Pal: Is a government office meant to serve the public, or to operate according to the convenience of its employees? This question is increasingly being raised by citizens after witnessing the situation at the Food Department office in Kailashahar on Friday. The office was open, the tables and chairs were in place, files were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":23216,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1173],"class_list":["post-23217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tripura"],"authors":[{"term_id":1173,"user_id":1,"is_guest":0,"slug":"bwkhao","display_name":"admin","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/manager-png.avif","url2x":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/manager-png.avif"},"author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"https:\/\/aguli.in","job_title":"","description":"AGULI STAFF DESK"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23217"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23218,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23217\/revisions\/23218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23217"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aguli.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=23217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}