DC maintains it was not so
Morung Express News
Dimapur | August 27
During the past week, there were reports of a staff at the Deputy Commissioner’s office, Dimapur dying of COVID-19. Further, there were also reports of associates/relatives of two staffers of the office testing positive.
It had raised apprehension among the staffers and the district authority allegedly not taking any precautionary steps as dictated by the COVID-19 protocol.
It resulted in the staffers submitting a memorandum to the DC.
As per the memorandum written on August 24, DC office complex was not sealed and none of the employees, who were reportedly exposed, quarantined.
It said that on August 19, the wife of one of their colleagues tested positive and the colleague came into contact with other employees. The same day, it added, “the brother (neighbour) of a staff succumbed to COVID-19 and the staff had been in contact with majority staff members during his performance of office work and assigned duties.”
Further, it said that on August 22, an employee of the DC’s office succumbed to COVID-19.
Despite the detection of cases in the office premises, the memorandum said that the office was not sealed, while, the employees, who were in close contact with the positive cases, made to undergo the necessary tests and quarantine measures. “It is to mention herein that on previous occasions, the staff had approached the authority to address the safety of lives and implement preventive measures for the functioning of office work in performing assigned duties, but only to avail repudiating response,” it added.
On account of the associated risks, it asked the DC for allowing the employees to undergo tests and those staffers, who came into contact with positive family members, to undergo 14 days quarantine. The memorandum also included a 4-point charter of demands, which included: implementation of work schedule for the employees on turn basis, hand washing stations and thermal screening provisions, maintaining visitor’s log and closing of the office canteen till “the situation is normalized.”
DC confirms receipt of memo
The DC, while confirming the receipt of the memorandum, told The Morung Express that he called for a meeting of the staff subsequently on August 25.
The DC, Rajesh Soundarajan said, “There was apprehension (among the staff). So, we had a meeting with the staff on August 25 after they gave the memorandum. And the facts of the cases were explained to them.”
He said that the test result of the staff, whose wife tested positive, returned negative. While stating that the retest also returned negative, the DC said that co-workers, who came into close contact with him were also tested and the results were negative.
With regard to the other employee, Soundarajan said that the former was advised home isolation.
Queried on the reported COVID-19 death of one of the DC office staff, he said, “On August 22, one employee passed away. But the thing is that he was not attending office for two-three weeks before that. The last he came to office was on August 17 for taking some more time off. He had done the test the previous day. He was negative at that time. After that (death) he was tested (confirmatory) positive on August 22, the day he died.”
While maintaining that the facts and circumstances were clarified to the employees at the August 25 meeting, he held that the question of the DC’s office not taking precautionary measures does not arise.
“As per their request, we have put precautions in place so that there is minimum interaction between the public and the staff,” he said, while adding that precautionary measures regarding safety at the workplace were already in place.
As far as the request for “roster system” was concerned, the DC said that the district administration is designated as an essential service, as per the COVID-19 SOP, and that the 50 percent “roster system” was only for departments deemed non-essential in the current circumstance.
