CHENNAI: A section of people who compassionately and dutifully stepped forward to assume positions in the first line of defence in the battle against COVID-19 are left in the lurch after they got infected.
Ever since 30-year-old Vijayalakshmi got discharged after being treated for COVID-19, life has not been easy. A BA graduate, she was one among those who were temporarily hired to undertake door-to-door surveys.
She was pressed into duty in Division 58, where she surveyed people from several streets of Periamet in Royapuram zone. Many of the streets were containment zones. She is suspected to have contracted the infection from the locality.
However, she has not been reimbursed for the month she worked, she alleged. Along with her, at least eight others who worked in the same division and got infected also suffer the same fate.“I felt feverish on April 28 and got myself admitted to a hospital. I had been working for a month. When we went back to the Corporation office, they declined to give our jobs back. After a lot of pleading, they agreed to let us join duty,” she noted.
“We are not asking for any special compensation but only the pending salary,” she added. She had taken up the job to pay her daughter’s school fees of Rs 23,000, which remains unpaid. Similarly, 24-year-old Vishnu Ram had taken up the job as the car driver was rendered jobless during lockdown. Working in the same division as his colleague Vijayalakshmi, he is also suspected to have got infected at work, a month after he joined.
“My mother is a conservancy worker. After she informed me that they were hiring, I applied. I tested positive on April 24 and was sent to the RGGGH,” he said.“Initially, they told us there was nothing to worry about and that if I wore masks and gloves, I wouldn’t catch the virus. I wore all safety gears and also washed my hands whenever I could, but still got it,” he added.
Vishnu was informed that his name was no longer on the list (of temporary employees) when he contacted them after discharge.“I got infected when I was at work. So the Corporation should take some kind of responsibility for the physical and mental stress we endured. They are not even giving us our salaries,” he said.
When contacted, a Corporation official said that they will be taken back into service after quarantine.“There were some problems at the onset, but we have now told them that we will be taking them back. Salaries will be given by the end of their work period of three months,” the official said.