Bihar: Employees forced to wear helmets at work courtesy a dangerous office

A 60-year-old government office in Bihar is literally falling off for want of renovation forcing the employees to wear crash helmets during their duty hours.

Munger:A 60-year-old government office in Bihar is literally falling off for want of renovation forcing the employees to wear crash helmets during their duty hours.

The Bihar State Road Transport Corporation (BSRTC) office in Munger district is in a dilapidated state. Employees claim that many of them have been injured over the years as chunks of the cracked ceiling fell on them.

Not just employees, even the visitors making a beeline to this office have to wear a helmet to protect themselves.

"I have been working in this office for the past four years. Time and again, chunks of the ceiling fall on us. So to protect our heads, we are forced to wear helmets," said Niranjan Kumar, one of the employees working in the office.

Echoing Niranjan, another employee, Chandan Kumar said they face a lot of trouble while working with a helmet on.

"We only remove the helmet when we go out during our work hours," he said.

The workplace troubles even more during the rainy season as water starts to trickle in, the employees said.

"I have been working in this office since 2017 and every day I have to wear a helmet while doing my desk job. During rains, the situation turns ugly as water trickles in and we have to hold an umbrella too apart from the helmet. It is very tough to save the important papers and documents at that time," said Deepak, who works as a booking clerk.

This building, according to Vijay Kumar Yadav, Superintendent of the office, was constructed in 1959 and has "never" been renovated.

"It may fall any time," he said.

Several letters have been sent to the higher officials of the department but all the attempts, the employees say, turned futile.