OdishaPlus Bureau
With as many as 13 PCS officers and an IAS officer couple testing positive for Coronavirus, it has set alarm bells ringing in the bureaucracy of Punjab. On Friday, Punjab rural development minister Tript Singh Bajwa too got himself tested after he held a meeting with the infected IAS officers a day before.
Meanwhile, in view of the Covid-19 threat, the Punjab government has restricted the movement of outsiders in the Civic Secretariat in Chandigarh. “In view of the growing spread of Covid-19, it has been decided by the department of general administration to restrict the entry of general public Punjab Civil Secretariat 1 and 2,” said the orders.
Already, over 25 government employees working in the Secretariat have been asked to home quarantine themselves after one of the employees tested positive earlier this week. The employees’ union has demanded that the government departments in the secretariat should be run with minimum attendance.
At a meeting to review the COVID situation in the State on Thursday, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh underlined that office staff, in particular, needs to be very careful, he stressed. He asked chief secretary Vini Mahajan to issue SOPs for Government Officers’ meetings, visit other offices.
All officers who attended the meeting with the officers found positive has gone into quarantine and are getting themselves tested for Covid-19. The PCS officers who have tested positive so far in the state include SDMs of Ropar, Shahkot, and Dirba, besides SSP Jalandhar (Rural). While one of the COVID positive IAS officers is DC, Ropar, the other is director, rural development.