As work from home ended for Ministers in the Union Council and senior bureaucrats on Monday, some activity slowly returned to hitherto deserted corridors of power in New Delhi.
Ministers were seen at work at their Ministries donning masks and after going through temperature checks at the entrance of their office buildings.
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While the Ministry of Culture saw some heavy duty sanitisation and social distancing, standard protocols were applied at the Jal Shakti Ministry.
“We have very little staff coming into work today, basically the Minister, personal secretary, the Secretary, two Additional Secretaries and Joint Secretaries came to office,” said a source. Only two of the six attendants were asked to report for work and sent vehicles as public transport was not available. “Sanitisers at the doors and appropriate distancing and donning of masks have been made compulsory,” added the source.
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The Ministry of Minority Affairs too had these SOPs in place but instead of providing vehicles to lower level staff, those who had their vehicles were encouraged to report for work. As for touching of files, an aide to the Minister said the Ministry had long shifted to an “e-office” set up. “Barely 30% of the staff made it to work today,” said the source.
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Meetings are being held as far as possible through video conferencing and the return to office for the government of India is being seen as part of Prime Minister Modi’s evolving response to COVID19 , from “jaan hai toh jahan hai”(the world for he who lives) to “Jaan bhi, jahaan bhi”(Life yes, but the World too), pointing towards a staggered exit from the lockdown post April 14.