This story is from May 18, 2020

Nanded officer pulls WFH hoax sitting in Thane

Nanded officer pulls WFH hoax sitting in Thane
Representative Image
MUMBAI: An officer from the Nanded regional transport office (RTO) attended six video conference sessions over the past two months, informing his superiors in Maharashtra about “his work during the pandemic” when he was actually sitting in the comfort of his Thane home. The officer, Shailesh Kamat, has been issued a show cause notice to explain why he was not present in his Nanded office for 54 days when he was required to perform his lockdown duties, reports Somit Sen.
“He misled us into believing he was working from Nanded whenever we spoke over the phone,” said state transport commissioner Shekhar Channe, who will submit a report to the government seeking action against the officer.

RTO officer: Had to look after my dad, should be pardoned
Sources said a fellow officer from the department got wind of Kamat’s location in Thane and tipped off the superiors. When TOI contacted Kamat, he said he had to rush to Thane for a medical emergency at home. “My father’s health condition is serious. He had a fall and injured himself. I came to Thane to look after him during the lockdown.”
Channe pointed out that it is mandatory for all government officials to remain posted at their jurisdictions during Covid-19 crisis. “The last time I called Kamat was to check on a massive traffic jam at the state border checkpost in Nanded. He informed me that the Nanded collector and local superintendent of police had visited the checkpost thrice. I was given the impression that he too had visited the spot and resolved the issue,” said Channe. “This is serious. If the office was shut due to lockdown, he should have been at his residence in Nanded, and not in Thane.”
Asked why he did not inform his seniors about his father’s condition, Kamat claimed that he had informed the commissioner, but it was “too late”. “I should be pardoned on sympathetic grounds and there should be no inquiry,” Kamat said.
Channe, however, disagrees. “Kamat spoke to me several times; he could have said that his father was serious. We would have asked him to proceed on leave and deputed somebody else in his place, but he always reported to me as if he was working out of Nanded.” Channe has appointed a deputy RTO officer at Nanded.
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