Coronavirus: Every Private Office In Mumbai Should Have Only 50% Staff; Work From Home Can Be Made Compulsory

Section 144 was imposed in Mumbai following the outbreak of novel coronavirus on Sunday March 15. In the wake of the Covid-19 scare, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray issued an advisory directing all schools, colleges, cinema halls and malls to remain shut till 31 March.

The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has directed all non-essential service providers to work at 50% capacity. Thackeray had last week appealed to offices to allow staff to work from home. BMC chief Praveen Pardeshi also made a similar appeal and said if necessary, work from home will be made compulsory

Avoid Public Transport, Work from Home; Some of the Initiatives Implemented by BMC!

On March 16, the Maharashtra CM appealed to people to avoid travelling by public transport unless absolutely necessary.

The Maharashtra state government has asked other municipal corporations to issue similar orders to keep crowding of people at minimum mainly by discouraging commuting to work by public transport systems.

The officials said, this measure can help decongest the suburban trains, metro networks, public buses and other forms of public transport systems especially in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, the three cities where maximum number of COVID-19 cases have been detected.

The BMC is also planning to increase its testing capabilities from existing 200 daily to more at different public hospitals and expand the facilities at private hospitals.

With the school-college examinations in progress Pardeshi said,  “School officials are instructed to send back any students who show symptoms such as dry cough, runny nose and breathlessness. Students may also be excused from attending the exam, provided that they submit a medical certificate that states they have a cold, cough or fever.” 

In addition he said, “For passengers from high-risk countries, quarantine norms will be applicable for those showing symptoms. Those without symptoms will mandatorily be home-quarantined for 14 days with follow-up calls to ensure they are not carriers.” 

Maharashtra with Majority Covid-19 Cases; Preventive Measures in Boom!

The Centre on March 16 has issued detailed social distancing measures. It has said that ‘social-distancing’ is the key to containing the outbreak for which a lock-down has been enforced in schools, colleges, malls, swimming pools, gyms, etc, though school-college examinations are going on as scheduled. It has also advised to avoid conducting meetings at offices and instead encouraging the workplaces to take to video-call conferences. A senior IAS officer said that large government offices like Mantralaya should also be included in this rule.

The CM has asked some of its secretaries to look into how the state can deal with major economic losses due to partial shutdown and businesses getting affected.

Many large firms are encouraging work from home and providing required technology support but due to a larger employee base finding it tough to deal with it. Many small firms too are allowing work from home.

The Maharashtra government announced a ?45 crore to districts in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has allocated ?15 crore to the Konkan region, ?10 crore to Pune and ?5 crore each to Amravati, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Nashik.