A tribal welfare department officer in a Chhattisgarh district has issued an order asking its staff members to get vaccinated against coronavirus, and if not then their salaries for the next month will be withheld.
On May 21, a copy of the order went viral on social media where some people expressed displeasure over the ‘diktat’, issued by the assistant commissioner K S Masram in the Gaurela-Pendra-Marwahi district.
The officers and employees working in the tribal welfare department-run offices, ashrams (residential schools), and hostels in the district to get vaccinated and submit their vaccination cards at its office, was mentioned in the order.
The order further noted that if the employees do not take the vaccine their salaries for the next month will be withheld, and the order which came into force with effect from the date of being issued.
Earlier, Masram also issued an order on May 20 for vaccination against coronavirus of families of all officers and employees working in the department, Masram told the PTI.
Meanwhile, last month, vaccine shortage allegations were put on the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh, who are among the major states and UTs that are raising concerns over the need to further improve vaccine management. Over which the Chhattisgarh CMO has tweeted a post dismissing these allegations:
This data is incorrect. We have already written to @MoHFW_INDIA regarding the same.
Our team is in touch with @MoHFW_INDIA to resolve the data issues.
Attaching here the actual percentage of vaccine wastage and the letter written by us. https://t.co/zCSaoLovL0 pic.twitter.com/vqhKGyxLFX
— CMO Chhattisgarh (@ChhattisgarhCMO) May 26, 2021
Meanwhile, the cumulative number of Covid-19 vaccine doses administered in the country so far has reached 20,26,95,874, the health ministry said. With this, India became the second country to achieve the 20-crore vaccination mark after the US, the ministry added. Testing capacity substantially ramped up 21.57 lakh tests conducted in the last 24 hours.
