Chandigarh, July 10, 2020: The bureaucracy in Punjab is running scared after two IAS officer and 14 PCS officers tested coronavirus positive in the past few days.
The spread of the disease came to light after 11 PCS officers tested positive after a meeting in Chandigarh on July 3 which had 40 PCS officers in attendance.
After the meeting, the officers met Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan in the civil secretariat. A PCS officer posted as a deputy secretary in the chief minister’s office (CMO) also met them.
Manjeet Singh Cheema, SDM, Dirba (Sangrur) and Sanjeev Sharma, SDM, Shahkot (Jalandhar), had attened the meeting and they tested positive on July 9 along with Mankanwal Singh, SDM, Payal (Ludhiana).
DC Ropar Sonali Giri, IAS, tested positive yesterday and her husband Vipul Ujwal, who is also an IAS officer, has also tested positive.
Giri was tested after Ropar SDM tested positive. Offices of both have been sealed and sanitised.
Till date, 2 IAS officers and 14 PCS officers in the state have contracted coronavirus and test results of five officers are yet to be declared.
Only July 5, Mankanwal was present in village Rabbon Uchi along with Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu. There are no reports whether the health minister has been tested.
Among those present in the function at Rabbon Uchi were Payal MLA Lakhvir Singh Lakha, Fatehgarh Sahib MP Dr Amar Singh, Samrala MLA Amrik Singh Dhillon, Khanna MLA Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Bassi Pathana MLA Gurpreet Singh GP, former minister Malkit Singh Dakha and Khanna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Harpreet Singh.
Ludhiana is the hardest hit in this regard as four PCS officers, including Mankanwal and ADC (General) Amarjit Singh Bains, posted in the district have tested positive.
Around 300 people, including family members and government employees, who were in contact with the infected officers have been asked by the state health department to put themselves in home quarantine.