By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 1 Oct: Chief Secretary Om Prakash had to home quarantine, himself, today after his Personal Secretary, Mohan Lal Uniyal, has tested Corona positive. Along with the Chief Secretary, his entire staff, too, has been asked to home quarantine for four days.
As a result, the Chief Secretary’s Office has been closed with immediate effect and is now expected to open only on Monday! It is not the first time that senior government officers have had to undertake home quarantining due to their staff testing Corona positive. Even the Chief Minister, Trivendra Singh Rawat, has undergone home quarantine at least twice following his staff members testing Corona positive.
Not only this, at least two Secretary level officers, including Secretary, Agriculture, Harbans Singh Chugh had tested Corona positive, and several Joint Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries and Under Secretaries, too, have tested Corona positive in the past weeks. Some of the Secretary and Additional Secretary level officers had to home quarantine themselves because either their staff members or their ministers had contracted Corona in the past few weeks.
It may be recalled that, after a week of showing a declining trend, the number of Corona cases has suddenly jumped up again, going beyond 1,000 on a single day, yesterday, with Dehradun reporting 336 cases!
Nagar Nigam offices have also been closed for the public several times during the Corona period and, yesterday, these were closed, yet again, following a staff member testing Corona positive. The pandemic is showing few signs of abating even as the government is preparing to open up schools, colleges, cinema theatres and swimming pools. Although Unlock 5 guidelines have already been issued by the Centre for the month of October, the state government is yet to finalise its guidelines, even as the month of October has already begun.
