Transport dept wants PPE for bus staff
Bhubaneswar: If the transport department has its way, drivers and helpers of buses mobilised by the government to transport migrant returnees may get personal protective equipment (PPE) to fight Covid-19.
Department secretary Madhusudan Padhi recently wrote a letter to the health department seeking PPE kits for the bus staff. Several private buses and small vehicles have been engaged at different railway stations for transporting migrants coming by Shramik Special trains. The drivers and helpers take the stranded returnees to quarantine centres.
“In the past few days, it has been seen that many of the migrant workers have tested positive. This has created fear and anxiety among the bus drivers and helpers who transported the workers,” Padhi said.
The movement of Shramik Special trains to Odisha has been temporarily suspended till Thursday in the wake of Cyclone Amphan. With the objective that no migrant should walk on the roads, the government has also sent several buses to different districts to transport workers to interstate border checkpoints.
The state government already exempted vehicles transporting migrant workers from stations to quarantine centres from paying road tax. On the request of the bus owners’ association, the transport commissioner has recommended the supply of PPE to drivers and helpers as they work in close proximity with Covid-19 patients, Padhi said.
Transport commissioner Sanjeeb Panda said once the health department accepts the proposal, the regional transport officers (RTOs) will place the requisition for PPE to the district administrations. Earlier, drivers and conductors of vehicles engaged by the state government to transport stranded persons from other states and railway stations were covered under the Rs 50 lakh insurance scheme of the government.
“We have asked RTOs to make a list of the drivers and conductors and other staff deployed at border checkpoints. In case of their deaths while discharging Covid-19 duty, their kin will get Rs 50 lakh as compensation. Since the drivers and conductors work like frontline corona warriors, they should be supplied with adequate PPE kits for their safety,” Panda said.