OPS demands WFH for State govt employees as cases continue to spread

Former Chief Minister and AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam on Monday demanded the Tamil Nadu government to follow the union government covid-19 guidelines for its employees.

In a statement, the AIADMK leader said that the incidence of Covid spread was fast with a growing test positivity rate of more than 8.7 per cent and daily an average of 2,000 new cases are added compounding the infection spread. The State government employees are in a state of panic and are vulnerable to the spread of infection so it is the duty of the State government to ensure that its employees are also treated like the Central government employees. The Centre had issued a circular under which pregnant staff and differently-abled are allowed to work from home till January 31, 2022, and this should be replicated in the State for the safety of public and government employees.

The AIADMK leader also urged awareness programme for the public and counselling to those who had tested positive for Covid. Expressing condolences for the recent suicide of a mother and a three-year-old in Madurai, where the family members consumed poison for testing positive for Covid, OPS said that there is a need for corona counseling to address the mental depression of the public.

"The former CM also urged the government to close down all the Tasmac liquor outlets. At a time when the schools and colleges are closed down to curtail the spread of coronavirus, what is the need to keep the liquor outlets open? The state should close all the Tasmac shops immediately and reopen when the test positivity rate is around the 5 per cent mark or below that," the statement added.