Best in fighting corona, Telangana state government ignores its own employees: Secretariat staff stare at big risk

Hyderabad: On one hand, the Telangana government is much ahead of other states in taking advance preventive measures and in implementing the protocols recommended by the World Health Organisation and Government of India to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus, while on the other, the epicentre of the state administration, the Secretariat, is ill-equipped to handle the situation.

The Secretariat- which houses the offices of top brass, including the Chief Secretary, is prone to the spread of coronavirus. The seven-floor giant building – BRKR Bhavan -- is ill-equipped to handle the pandemic.

Even hand sanitisers, basic necessities to contain the spread of the virus, are not made available either to the officials or to the visitors at the entrance. This being the situation, there is no question of scanning of the visitors both from other parts of India and foreign countries.

At least 2,000 people, including some foreign delegates, visit the Secretariat every day. There are about 2,000 officials attached to various departments working in the building come in contact with these visitors.

Despite the number of positive cases on increase and many organisations giving permission for work from home, the Secretariat has not made any such arrangement to monitor the visiting people's health status inside. This is in contravention of the health advisory issued by the Union government.

"There are also no precautionary measure taken for the safety of the employees, including the security staff," a senior official who did not want to be named told The Hans India. He said the visitors from other states were also allowed inside without any scanning.

Even the mandated sanitization of the entire Secretariat was not done so far though the health advisory has given top priority to cleanliness of the premises and the maintenance of the hygiene of every office room.

Provision of the availability of sanitizers for the employees and safety masks for the staff engaged in the security of the Secretariat, lift operations, washroom cleaning and outsourcing staff who keep going from one chamber to another shifting the files was not provided.

Visitors are entering the premises with required passes and permission letters from the Secretaries and other top officials, but their travel history is not being monitored closely by the authorities in the Secretariat.

A senior official said that the head office of the state administration should have been equipped with advanced screening facility to check the health status of every visitor and the official to avoid the outbreak of the coronavirus.

All that the seven-floor secretariat has is a small dispensary with a few medical staff to provide emergency medical treatment.

"The top officials are holding regular review meetings and taking necessary measures to prevent the spread of the virus but they are not bothered about the safety of the thousands of employees and the visiting people in the secretariat," a senior official said, adding that the employees who are conscious about the virus are brining sanitizers on their own but other menial workers ignored their health safety.