BMC Warning To Offices Violating COVID Norms In Capital City

Bhubaneswar: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation on Sunday  warned of action against offices that fail to ensure COVID appropriate behaviour on their premises.

The private and government offices and establishments in Bhubaneswar must ensure that their staff should strictly adhere to COVID-appropriate behaviour like wearing of face masks, maintaining hand hygiene and social distancing during working hours without fail, the BMC stated in its notice. The BMC may even have to go for closure of the violating offices too, the notice added.

“It has come to our notice that some offices in the state capital which have resumed their operations and asked their staff to come to workplaces are not strictly implementing and monitoring the state government’s COVID guidelines issued for workplaces,” the order added.

The decision has been taken to avoid any further spike in COVID cases and avert possible third wave, Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Commissioner, Sanjay Kumar Singh said and urged the authorities of all offices and organisations to be cautious  as COVID cases are still getting reported in the city.

From Monday, the Enforcement team of BMC along with police will make surprise visits to workplaces in the city to check whether COVID-appropriate behaviour is followed or not within the premises. If any organisation is found violating the guidelines, stringent action will be taken as per the provisions of Section 2 (1) of the Epidemic Disease Act, Singh added.

If any offices or organizations are found flouting the norms repeatedly, BMC may even seal those organizations for indefinite period.