Some government offices in state work on Sunday

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  Some government offices of the state functioned on Sunday as a mark of respect to late president Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.

Chief Secretary Jiji Thompson had on July 28 tweeted that all state government offices would remain open on Sunday but the idea was shot down by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

The directorate of health services, however, worked on Sunday. The decision was taken by the staff welfare committee.

"Not only is our office working today (Sunday), but we have begun an anti-malaria drive too," its director S Jayashankar told the media.

"It was a unanimous decision taken by all of us to work on Sunday as this was what our former president Kalam wanted," said a staff member.

Kalam, who died in Shillong last week, had earlier mentioned in his post that instead of taking a holiday after his death, everyone should work an extra day.

Many officials of the state government had expressed a desire to work on a holiday and it was this which spurred Thompson to tweet.

Reports from other districts also said that some government offices like the village panchayats were open.

Kalam, who worked as a scientist in the ISRO here, lived in the capital city for close to two decades, starting from the late 60s to the early 80s -- and was a hugely popular figure.