Entry of visitors goes unchecked at Ludhiana MC offices
The civic body failed to depute staff at entry points for thermal screening of visitors and hand sanitisers were missing, adding to woes of staffers
Despite claims that public dealing at municipal corporation (MC) offices will be restricted after joint commissioner Kulpreet Singh tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, there was no check on entry of visitors and movement of visitors was unrestricted on Monday.
The civic body failed to depute staff at entry points for thermal screening of visitors and hand sanitisers were missing, adding to woes of staffers.
A staffer, requesting anonymity, said, “The MC should shut down offices as a large number of residents visit daily. The number of positive patients in the district is rising every day. However, senior officials are not paying heed to the problem and no restrictions have even been imposed on public dealing.”
“The rising cases of positive patients is a concern for all of us and apart from joint commissioner Kulpreet Singh who tested positive, additional commissioner Sanyam Aggarwal and joint commissioner Swati Tiwana have also been home quarantined. These officials have been conducting regular meetings with staff and entry of a large number of residents in MC offices on a daily basis, is adding to concern of staffers,” said another employee.
Staff was deputed for maintaining social distancing inside the suvidha kendra at Zone D office, but residents gave social distancing a miss while waiting for their turn outside.
One of the visitors, Gurdeep Singh, said, ”The MC is asking residents to pay pending taxes, but, it has failed to keep a check on gatherings in its offices. With visitors giving social distancing a miss, there is always a fear of getting infected. The MC should start thermal screening visitors.”
Mayor Balkar Sandhu said, “As many as 17 thermal scanners have been purchased and are being distributed in zonal and sub-zone offices. No person will be allowed to enter offices without being scanned. We are planning to impose restrictions on public dealing, but no final decision has been taken yet.”
Joint commissioner Kulpreet Singh was sent to home quarantine after additional deputy commissioner (ADC) Amarjit Bains tested positive on July 8.