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Act against landlords harassing health care personnel over Covid-19 spread fears: Delhi govt
The Delhi government allowed district magistrates and zonal officers on Wednesday to take “strict penal action” against landlords who are forcing doctors, paramedical staff and healthcare personnel treating suspected or positive coronavirus cases to vacate their rented homes.
The Delhi government allowed district magistrates and zonal officers on Wednesday to take “strict penal action” against landlords who are forcing doctors, paramedical staff and healthcare personnel treating suspected or positive coronavirus cases to vacate their rented homes.
“Such behaviour amounts to obstructing public servants in discharging their duties,” said the order, which HT has seen.
The order came a day after Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said he was hurt by news of harassment of health care officials from across the city.
Wednesday’s order said district magistrates, zonal deputy commissioners of municipal corporations and the deputy commissioner of police are “directed to take strict penal action against such landlords and house owners under the relevant provisions of law”.
These officials have also been asked to submit an action-taken-report on a daily basis to the office of the additional chief secretary of the Delhi government’s home department.
Resident doctors of India’s premier hospital, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), sought the government’s intervention on the matter on Tuesday, saying their colleagues were facing harassment by their landlords, who fear medical professionals at the forefront of the fight against the Sars-Cov-2 virus could be infected and spreading the pathogen.
In a letter to home minister Amit Shah, the resident doctors’ association said many staffers were “stranded on roads” with all their luggage, and urged him to immediately release an order, prohibiting landlords from evicting health care professionals.
Shah has spoken to the Delhi Police chief and asked him to take immediate action to ensure the security of doctors facing harassment.
