BELAGAVI: Hundreds of contract staffers of Kali and Biligiriranga Swamy tiger reserves in Karnataka have not been paid for nearly six months with the Centre effecting a big cut in budgetary allocation following the pandemic-triggered financial crisis.
Though on contract, these staffers carry out important duties like patrolling against poaching activities, working as drivers in tough terrains and as computer operators. The monthly honorarium ranging between Rs 14,300 and Rs 15,300 is their only source of income.
Interestingly, these workers’ counterparts in other three tiger reserves of the state -- Bandipur, Bhadra and Nagarahole – have been receiving payment since they had sent in budget proposals before the Centre trimmed the budget.
Some 295 contract workers at KRT, Dandeli, Uttara Kannada district, staged a demonstration on January 1, and the authorities promised them payment in 20 days.
The only relief is that none of the PG medicos has suffered from severe forms of infection, though hospitalisation was needed in most cases,” a PG medico told TOI.
Senior BMCRI professors told TOI that a request has been made to the authorities to conduct genomic sequencing of the swabs to gain clarity in these cases.
“It is a matter of serious concern. Genomic sequencing of the first and second swab samples helps us come to conclusions,” said a professor. That the re-infected medicos showed symptoms clearly means they were probably exposed to a different variant of the virus now, according to sources.
To term the second episode a case of ‘reinfection’, it is essential to prove the patient had tested RT-PCR negative after the first infection and genomic sequencing of the swabs taken in both episodes is analysed to check if the virus variants were different.
“These are to be seen as cases of reinfection. They tested positive for Covid during July, August and again in November, December and January. Some had donated plasma. We suspect the Covid antibodies don't remain effective for more than 3-4 months or they were infected with a different variant this time,” a doctor said.
At the government-run Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases, five workers, including two doctors, suffered Covid infection twice in three months. Their samples collected during the first and second infections were sent to National Institute of Virology, Pune, for genomic sequencing in November, and no report has been obtained so far.