Get Covid-19 jab or lose salary: Thane Municipal Corporation to staffs

THANE: The Thane Municipal Corporation has decided to stop the salaries of all its employees and contract staff who have failed to take the Covid-19 vaccine dose till date, mayor Naresh Mhaske announced Monday.
Mhaske informed the media that the decision was taken following a joint meeting with municipal commissioners and senior health officials.
"The administration will issue a notification to the effect in the next few days following which Thane could be the only corporation in the Mumbai metropolitan region, and perhaps the state, to make the vaccination mandatory for its employees," he said.
“We have decided to make vaccination mandatory for our permanent and temporary staff to get jabbed at the earliest, else forsake their salaries,” said Mhakse while addressing the media adding that a survey of civic employees taking the vaccine was being compiled.
“These staffs are at the front line and need to be completely vaccinated first. We gave them enough time but now we will have to act stern for their welfare and that of the city,” he said.
Manish Joshi, deputy municipal commissioner, in charge of the health department, said not all health care and front line workers of Thane corporation have been completely vaccinated while few have even skipped the first one. “We will issue a deadline for those to take the missing dose at the earliest and ask them to submit the proof to their concerned head of departments following which we will stop their salaries,” said Joshi.
Mhaske justified the decision claiming vaccine percolation in Thane wasn’t encouraging and there was a need to maximise its reach and make the city fully vaccinated. The compulsion is soon likely to be extended to private doctors, housing societies, commercial units and even government hospitals, he said.
"We are dispatching nearly 160 plus teams to various housing societies in the nine civic administrative wards to get an idea of the vaccination status," said Mhaske.
It may be recalled that several local corporations across the country including those in Punjab, Delhi had mulled imposing restrictions on government staff in the past. Closer home, the Bhiwandi-Nizampur corporation had also issued similar warnings to its teaching staff to get inoculated else forsake their salaries but retracted it immediately.
Meanwhile, activist Stalin D questioned the enforcement. “A reply to my RTI query by state and central government agencies clarified taking jabs wasn’t compulsory so how come any civic body forces its staff to get vaccinated. The move, if implemented, is unjust,” he said, claiming he is likely to skip his second dose.