Khattar appeals to companies to allow employees to work from home

For the containment and management of highly contagious novel coronavirus, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, on Monday, appealed to all multinational companies

For the containment and management of highly contagious novel coronavirus, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, on Monday, appealed to all multinational companies (MNCs) based out of the city to allow all their employees to work from home.

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“We have issued advisories banning mass gatherings and asking people to avoid unnecessary travel as precautionary measures. Likewise, I appeal to the management of all MNCs in Gurugram, especially IT companies as they can afford it, to restrict employees from coming to the office and give them an option to work-from-home,” said Khattar addressing the media in Gurugram on Monday.

Chief minister’s call came after the Union ministry of health and family welfare issued an advisory on social distancing, wherein private companies were asked to allow employees to work from home; minimization of meetings involving a large number of people, rescheduling them or conducting them through video conferencing. On Monday, the Central government also told states to shut schools, gyms, theatres and encourage private firms to let its employees work from home where feasible.

The HT had reported on March 5 that a number of IT and IT enabled services (ITes) companies have given an option to their employees to work from home and take leave in case of any flu-like symptoms.

Khattar also visited the quarantine facility at the government-run postgraduate medical college in Sector 9. Additional quarantine facilities are also being set up in the city as international travelers who have been quarantined in India are likely to be housed here for 14 days, before they can leave for their home countries.

“There has not been a single Covid-19 positive case in the city till now, except Italian tourists admitted in Medanta. We are creating quarantine facilities for international travellers who have arrived from other countries. Even if they are not infected, they will be kept under observation for 15 days. We have already created facilities with a total of 6,500 beds across the entire state,” Khattar said.

“Across the state, we have made provision of about 1,300 beds in isolation wards of government hospitals. Haryana is prepared to tackle if a situation arises,” he said, adding that more doctors will be roped in case of an emergency.

Talking about the lack of masks and sanitisers in the market, Khattar said, “People should not hoard these commodities. There is only one mask manufacturing unit in Haryana and we have approached them to increase production. The demand will be fulfilled; people should not panic.”