States »WesPosted at: Apr 7 2021 9:46PM Rush at swab collection centres after Pune civic body directive for Covid negative report
Pune, Apr 7 (UNI) Following the Pune Municipal Corporation’s directive to workers of essential services and other sectors to either get vaccinated or get a Covid-negative test report every 15 days to operate amidst the stringent pandemic restrictions, huge crowds were seen at swab collection centres across the city on Wednesday.
Some of the sectors allowed to operate are manufacturing, construction, banking & financial institutes, e-commerce, courier service, eateries & restaurants only for parcel facility, autorickshaws, cabs & private buses, marriage halls and private security agencies, among others.
The PMC is now trying to increase the number of vaccination and testing centres in the city. However, it has categorically directed employees of these sectors to get vaccinated as per the eligibility criteria or get a negative RT-PCR test report with validity of 15 days.
“If the rules are not followed, then the person would be fined Rs 1,000 while the organisation where the person is working would be penalised with Rs 10,000. If the violations are frequent then the PMC will either suspend the licence or ban operations till the end of pandemic,” stated the civic officials.
The PMC has also urged all establishments that are shut due to the restrictions to get their staff vaccinated during the period to enable smooth operations after the removal of restrictions in the city.
“There are many employees working in essential services who are younger than 45 and are not yet eligible for vaccination. Thus, they will have to get a negative RT-PCR report for Covid every 15 days. However, this will put their life at risk as they will have to visit the swab collection centre for the test where actual patients would be testing themselves,” said owner of an establishment.
There is already rush at vaccination centres and it was not possible for even those eligible for the vaccines to get inoculated by the deadline of April 10, he added.
Even as the civic body is trying to increase the number of vaccination centres across the city, the Union government has given permission to 65 new hospitals to set up vaccination centres, said additional Municipal commissioner Rubal Agarwal.
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