Chandigarh: Punjab government employees failing to take even the first dose of Covid vaccine for any reason other than medical will be compulsorily sent on leave after September 15.

This strong measure was announced on Friday by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to protect the people of the state from the disease, and to ensure that those who are vaccinated do not have to pay the price for continued vaccine hesitancy of those who are not.

At the high-level virtual Covid review meeting held today, the Chief Minister said vaccine effectiveness is evident from the data being analysed. Special efforts were taken to reach out to Government employees, and those who continue to avoid getting vaccinated will now be asked to go on leave till they get the first dose.

Captain Amarinder also allowed teaching and non-teaching school staff who had taken at least one dose of vaccine more than four weeks ago to resume duties, subject to submission of weekly RTPCR negative test reports. However, all those with co-morbidities shall only be allowed once they are fully vaccinated, he added.

School Education Secretary Krishan Kumar earlier pointed out that currently, only fully vaccinated staff members are allowed to come to schools. Health Minister Balbir Sidhu suggested gap for the second dose to be reduced for the school staff to 28 days but Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan informed the meeting that the Centre had rejected the state’s request to allow them to be treated as essential services.

The Chief Minister noted with satisfaction that with aggressive testing, the situation in schools had remained under control. As many as 3,21,969 school students along with 33,854 teaching and non-teaching staff samples have been taken in the month of August, across a total of 5799 schools, and a total of 158 cases have tested positive so far, which accounts for a positivity rate of only 0.05%, he added.

Citing the latest zero-survey, he revealed that for children in the age group of 6-17 years, the positivity was at 60%, and it was higher in the age bracket of 14-17 years. It was spread equally across gender and place of residence, as per the survey, which has confirmed “that our children, even though affected by Covid, have remained largely safe from serious disease,” noted the Chief Minister.

Health Minister Balbir Sidhu urged the Chief Minister to ensure availability of sufficient vaccines to ensure vaccination of all eligible people before the festivals.

The Chief Minister said he will pursue the matter with the Union Health Minister, who had earlier assured him of additional supplies. He directed the Health Department to ensure that all staff at sweetshops, kiosks, dhabas etc are vaccinated with at least one dose.

Noting that the state had already vaccinated more than 57 % of the eligible population, with the first dose administered to 1.18 crore and second to 37.81 lakh people, Captain Amarinder ordered further intensification of the vaccination drive. Teachers, parents of young children and vendors should be given priority for inoculation against Covid, he directed.

The Chief Minister expressed satisfaction at the fact that the vaccine stocks supplied to the state had been utilised without any wastage.

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Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday digitally laid the foundation stone of permanent camp of C-PYTE at Asal Uttar in district Tarn Taran to commemorate the bravery of Company Quarter Master Havaldar Abdul Hamid PVC and to provide training to the youth of Punjab for selection in Military and Para-military Forces.
Besides, the Chief Minister also inaugurated the 7th State level Mega Rozgar Mela with a target to fill 2.5 lakh vacancies across Punjab and launched free online coaching for Government recruitment exams apart from rolling out the ‘Mera Kaam Mera Maan’ scheme to provide employment assistance allowance Rs. 2500 per month to workers and wards of workers registered under Building and Other Construction Workers (BOCW) Welfare Board.
CM said that a new Armed Forces Preparatory Institute Sardar Bahadur Amin Chand Soni Armed Forces Preparatory Institute (SBACS-AFPI) is being established at Bajwara, Hoshiarpur at a cost of Rs. 26.96 crores for preparing youth of Punjab to compete and qualify in CDSE/AFCAT.
Till date, 11,658 unemployed reformed addicts have been identified and 2,203 have begun skill training under Punjab Skill Development Mission (PSDM).
Further, for Persons with Disabilities (PwD), the mission administers special training programmes that have trained 430 and placed 90 PwD candidates.
Notably, 10 poorest of poor unemployed candidates of each village have been identified and provided employment facilitation. As a result, 1,11,529 candidates have become self-reliant and 13,720 have been sponsored for skill training.

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