CEC, EC test +ve; Covid hits govt functioning as many senior officials get infected
New Delhi: The rise in fresh Covid-19 cases has started 'hitting' the functioning of the Central and state governments as several senior level officers in different ministries/departments are getting infected with Coronavirus despite the implementation of DoPT directives that restricted physical attendance of officials below the level of Under-Secretary or equivalent to 50 per cent of the actual strength.
With each passing day, new names are getting added to the list of officials being Covid infected. The key officers who have tested positive in recent days are Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra, Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DIPP) Secretary Guruprasad Mohapatra, Bihar Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Singh, Manipur's top official Rajesh Kumar, Uttar Pradesh DGP HC Awasthy, UP's ACS Information Navneet Sehgal, etc. The Information & Broadcasting ministry, which is engaged in creating awareness about Covid-19 protocols is not left untouched as many officers, including DAVP DG Satyendra Prakash, ADG Doordarshan Chaitanya Prasad, ADG Rajeev Jain, Joint Secretary Vikram Sahay and many officers of Press Information Bureau have tested positive.
Among the Secretaries who have tested positive are Social Justice and Empowerment Secretary R Subrahmanyam, Tribal Affairs Secretary Anil Kumar Jha, Youth Affairs Secretary Usha Sharma, Additional Secretary (Drinking Water and Sanitation) Bharat Lal, etc. Also, Utpal Kumar Singh and Desh Deepak Verma, the Secretary Generals of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively have tested positive.
In the Health ministry, over 30 officials at different levels have tested positive that has impacted the functioning of the department.
Similarly, several officials have tested Covid-19 positive in the Ministry of Telecommunications, Department of Posts, Unique Identification Authority of India (AADHAR), Ministry of Electronics and Technology, Ministry of External Affairs, etc.
In the case of Chief Election Commissioner Chandra, he has completed his 14-day home isolation period and is participating in all poll-related works through video conferencing without any break. As per a poll panel official, the functioning of the Election Commission has not been impacted due to the officers getting infected with the virus. However, the rise in new Covid-19 cases in different ministries/departments is also attributed to the non-compliance of DoPT guidelines in some ministries as 50 per cent physical staff strength norm is not being strictly followed in all the ministries.
