Mandatory use of Aarogya Setu App to break COVID chain
Hand sanitizer machines non-functional even in Civil Sectt
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 23: The explicit directives of three Union Ministries regarding mandatory use of Aarogya Setu Mobile App by all the employees in order to break the chain of transmission of COVID-19 are not being strictly followed in majority of the Government departments including Civil Secretariat in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Moreover, the hand sanitizer machines installed in Government offices during the first wave of the deadly virus are not functioning at present thereby exhibiting the non-serious approach of the concerned authorities towards Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
Aarogya Setu Mobile App was developed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India to contain the spread of COVID-19 and in terms of Order No.40-3/2020-DM-I(A) dated April 15, 2020, the Union Home Secretary, in his capacity as Chairperson, National Executive Committee, laid stress on use of Aarogya Setu Mobile App by all the employees both private and public.
Thereafter, the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions vide order dated April 29, 2020 issued instructions for mandatory use of Aarogya Setu App by all the officers/staff of the Government departments on mobile phones immediately.
In order to ensure strict compliance to these instructions of three Union Ministries, the General Administration Department vide Communication No.532 dated May 6, 2020 ordered that all Government officers/officials of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir shall mandatorily use Aarogya Setu App in their mobile phones.
Even the guidelines for use of App were issued which read: Before starting for office, user must review his/her status on the App and commute only when the App shows ‘Safe’ or ‘Low Risk’ status. In case the App shows a message that he/she has a ‘Moderate’ or ‘High Risk’ calculated on the basis of Bluetooth proximity (recent contact with infected person), he/she should not come to office and self-isolate for 14 days or till the status becomes ‘Safe’ or ‘Low Risk’.
Accordingly, all the Administrative Secretaries, Head of the Departments and Head of the offices were directed to ensure that these directions are strictly followed in their respective offices.
However, the directives of three Union Ministries and J&K Union Territory are not being strictly followed in majority of the Government departments because of absolute non-serious approach on the part of those, who were supposed to play crucial role in ensuring adherence.
“The level of non-compliance in other offices of the Union Territory can be gauged from the fact that even in the Civil Secretariat no mechanism has been put in place to check mandatory use of Aarogya Setu App by the officers and officials”, sources told EXCELSIOR, adding “majority of the employees working in the Civil Secretariat have not even installed the App in their mobile phones and the same is getting unchecked due to the non-seriousness at the level of concerned authorities”.
They further said, “by taking casually the explicit directives the concerned authorities are putting each and everyone visiting the Government offices to the grave risk”, adding “the situation vis-a-vis use of Aarogya Setu App in the private offices is better as compared to the Government departments”.
“Another astonishing aspect is that even the hand sanitizer machines installed at different places particularly at the entry points are not functioning in majority of the Government departments including the Civil Secretariat”, sources further informed, adding “in some offices the machines stand damaged while as in others no attention is paid towards re-filing the same with the sanitizers”.
Citing the example of the Civil Secretariat Jammu, sources said, “last year hand sanitizer machines were installed at several places in both the buildings but at present only few of them are functioning properly”, adding “it is really a matter of serious concern that while Government is repeatedly issuing statements asking people to make use of Aarogya Setu App and hand sanitizers on the other side it has failed to ensure strict compliance in its own offices”.
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