Van Bhavan accountant dies of Covid-19; norms violated

Nagpur: Even after the death of an accountant due to coronavirus on July 13, there has been blatant violation of Covid-19 guidelines at Van Bhavan, the state forest department’s headquarters here.
Under Unlock-2 on June 29 & 30, guidelines were issued by the government and NMC in which offices have been told to function with only 15% or 15 strength of employees, whichever is higher.
But on the contrary, of the 400 employees at Van Bhavan, more than 200 ministerial staff and officers are attending office daily, which is more than 50% of the strength, thereby violating lockdown guidelines.
The Van Bhavan entries show that more than 50% staff and officials are present in the office every day. This can also be gauged from the number of vehicles parked on the office premises. Besides, no serious efforts are being taken to daily sanitize the office building. This is despite spurt in Covid-19 cases in Nagpur.
Principal chief conservator of forests (HoFF) N Rambabu said, “The late accountant was a dialysis patient and he had stopped coming to the office from June 24. One of the employees who came in contact with the deceased has been put in institutional quarantine. We are taking up sanitizing exercise regularly.”
However, on work strength exceeding the prescribed limit, senior forest officials said, “Employees are called depending on the pressing assignments and work load.”
The accountant was hospitalized on July 12 and his samples for coronavirus were taken. He died on July 13 and his samples tested positive.
On Tuesday when NMC learnt about it, they visited Van Bhavan following which senior officials sent an SMS to all the employees asking them to leave the office. Sources said one of the drivers, who came in contact with the victim, is also being searched by forest officials and NMC.
A section of employees said, “No thermal scanning of staff outsourced for cleaning office building as well as toilets and bathrooms is done and no Covid-19 distancing is followed inside office premises.”