NEW DELHI: With the rest of the national capital region tightening the interstate movement norms, Delhi — with its all 11 districts in the red zone — is battling to gather the daily workforce required to implement the anti-novel coronavirus drive.
While senior municipal officials admitted that the operations had been impacted to an extent, they refused to comment on the new restrictions imposed by the Haryana districts, including Gurgaon, Faridabad and Sonipat, and the Noida and Ghaziabad authorities in Uttar Pradesh.
The civic bodies were already managing with a curtailed workforce as close to 10% of the staff — who are above 55 years or have any pre-existing serious ailment — have been sent on leave on the health ground since the outbreak of Covid-19.
A senior South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) official said the attendance of staff had progressively gone down in the past few days. While 5,228 sanitation workers were absent on Tuesday and 5,351 on Wednesday, the number jumped to 6,913 on Thursday.
Domestic mosquito breeding checkers and field workers from the public health department aren’t unaffected either. SDMC’s 230 DBCs, involved in disinfecting premises with handheld pumps, were absent on Friday while around 200 field workers were also missing.
The Centre needs to intervene in resolving the situation as sanitation efforts in the containment zones will also be affected, said an official.
SDMC has arranged for temporary shelters and announced reimbursement for interstate workers to stay in Delhi. Following the incentives announced on Wednesday, a slight improvement in attendance was noticed with 1,129 public health field workers reporting for duty on Friday against 1,036 on Wednesday.
An official of North Delhi Municipal Corporation said 15-20% of its employees were absent on Friday. The corporation has six zones and around 10% of its 50,000 workers are also not working due to the age issue.
A deputy commissioner claimed that while some workers were indeed facing problems at borders, they were some habitual offenders too. “We have no mechanism to check if a grievance is genuine. We are managing the situation by utilising the available manpower,” he added.
While senior municipal officials admitted that the operations had been impacted to an extent, they refused to comment on the new restrictions imposed by the Haryana districts, including Gurgaon, Faridabad and Sonipat, and the Noida and Ghaziabad authorities in Uttar Pradesh.
The civic bodies were already managing with a curtailed workforce as close to 10% of the staff — who are above 55 years or have any pre-existing serious ailment — have been sent on leave on the health ground since the outbreak of Covid-19.
A senior South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) official said the attendance of staff had progressively gone down in the past few days. While 5,228 sanitation workers were absent on Tuesday and 5,351 on Wednesday, the number jumped to 6,913 on Thursday.
Domestic mosquito breeding checkers and field workers from the public health department aren’t unaffected either. SDMC’s 230 DBCs, involved in disinfecting premises with handheld pumps, were absent on Friday while around 200 field workers were also missing.
The Centre needs to intervene in resolving the situation as sanitation efforts in the containment zones will also be affected, said an official.
SDMC has arranged for temporary shelters and announced reimbursement for interstate workers to stay in Delhi. Following the incentives announced on Wednesday, a slight improvement in attendance was noticed with 1,129 public health field workers reporting for duty on Friday against 1,036 on Wednesday.
An official of North Delhi Municipal Corporation said 15-20% of its employees were absent on Friday. The corporation has six zones and around 10% of its 50,000 workers are also not working due to the age issue.
A deputy commissioner claimed that while some workers were indeed facing problems at borders, they were some habitual offenders too. “We have no mechanism to check if a grievance is genuine. We are managing the situation by utilising the available manpower,” he added.
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