Plan to reimburse data usage in work-from-home hits hurdle

NEW DELHI: The Union finance ministry’s expenditure department has for now opposed a proposal for ₹300 monthly reimbursement for increased data usage for officials working from home, saying it is unnecessary since remote working saves the travelling costs, officials aware of the matter said.

The proposal has been made as part of deliberations for the formulation of the Centre’s work from home policy. The policy is being drafted in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic that has prompted social distancing norms and remote working globally to check its spread.

The officials said the department, which oversees the Centre’s public financial management and matters connected with the state finances, called the proposed reimbursement unnecessary in its feedback last week.

“The feeling is that since officials have to bear less travel costs, data usage reimbursement is not necessary at this point,” said one of the officials on condition of anonymity.

An expenditure department official, who did not wish to be named, said there is no question of such reimbursement as officials are paid for travel and other costs.

The department of administrative reforms and public grievances (DARPG), which is drafting the work from home guidelines, has held at least 35 meetings with representatives of over 80 ministries and departments over the last month to seek their feedback. The proposal for the monthly compensation for data usage has been discussed at the meetings.

Extending virtual private network (VPN) access to officers below the secretary level, creation of a cloud large enough to store all the information, and providing support like laptops are among other suggestions DAPG has received apart from the one for the data usage reimbursement.