Andhra Pradesh government employees on Monday urged the state government to extend the work-from-home option in view of COVID-19 spread. The AP Secretariat Association (APSA) and the AP Revenue Services Association submitted memoranda to the Chief Secretary, requesting that 50% of the staff be allowed to work on a rotation basis to check the spread of the virus. The associations said that four employees had succumbed to the virus in a week. Two staffers of the Andhra Pradesh High Court also fell prey to coronavirus on Monday, court sources said.
In the last four days, over 50 employees of the State Secretariat and their family members tested positive for the virus, APSA general secretary N Prasad told reporters. He said the APSA requested the government to extend the work-from-home option or allow 50 per cent of the employees to work on a rotational basis to safeguard from the coronavirus. The APSA leaders turned emotional while talking to the media and recalling the death of their colleagues in the last few days.
Santa Kumari, who was a Section Officer in the Panchayat Raj Department, succumbed to COVID-19 on Monday while her husband V Padma Rao, who was an Assistant Secretary, died two days ago, they said. A record assistant in the Home Department A S N Murthy died of COVID-19 on Monday, while a Section Officer in the General Administration Department, G Ravikanth, also fell victim to the virus a couple of days ago, the leaders added.
Revenue Services Association president Bopparaju Venkateswarlu said the work-from-home facility should be immediately extended to government employees in view of the spread of COVID-19. Venkateswarlu wanted the government to release adequate funds to immediately sanitise all offices and also extend 14-day quarantine leave to the infected staff. In the High Court, a typist and a junior assistant died of coronavirus infection on Monday, court sources said.
Meanwhile, Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu also asked the government to allow work-from-home option to employees in view of the rise in COVID-19 cases.
Read: