ECR intensifies vaccination drive for staff, kin | Patna News

PATNA: With a nod from the state government to inoculate persons in the 18 to 44 years age group, railways has started Covid vaccination for its employees and their dependents at the Danapur railway hospital and the nearest railway vaccination centres in the division.
East Central Railway (ECR) GM L C Trivedi is personally supervising the vaccination drive. Railways intends to complete the vaccination drive in the ECR by mid-June.
According to Danapur divisional railway manager (DRM) Sunil Kumar, 5400 out of the 14,640 railway employees in the division have been vaccinated so far. He said the number of people in the 18 to 44 years age group is much higher this time in railways.
ECR chief public relations officer (CPRO) Rajesh Kumar said ECR has total 81,635 employees working at the headquarters and in its Danapur, Sonepur, Samastipur, Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Dhanbad divisions. Altogether 33,791 railway employees in the zone have been vaccinated so far, which is almost 42% of the total strength of the employees, he said.
Out of the 2,564 employees at the ECR headquarters in Hajipur, 1184 have been vaccinated while 4080 out of the 10,804 employees in the Samastiput division have got their vaccine shots, he said.
According to the CPRO, Sonepur division has about 12.820 railway employees and 7,368 of them and their family members have been vaccinated. Similarly, 3,858 of the 14,722 employees in the Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya division have also got the jabs till Sunday, he said .
Out of the 22,401 employees in Dhanbad division, 10,410 have been vaccinated while 1500 out of the 3,755 employees working at different railway construction offices and workshops have also received their vaccine shots.
It may be recalled that about 2500 railway employees have tested positive for Covid-19 so far. While at least 70 employees of the ECR have so far succumbed to the deadly virus, hundreds of infected staff are undergoing treatment, sources said.
According to sources, railway doctors, nurses and paramedical staff of the railway hospitals are also struggling hard for their survival. Besides, railways has announced at least one month leave for each Covid-infected railway employee for the recovery purpose, sources said.