HYDERABAD: A senior official of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), who is learnt to have attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi, withheld his travel history from the higher-ups in his department.
He has been on duty for the past 20 days. Officials of the civic body, upon learning that the Executive Engineer (EE) of Charminar Circle had attended the said meet, shifted him to a quarantine centre on Sunday.
The EE not only concealed his travel history from the GHMC, but also failed to obtain leave for his trip from the Deputy Municipal Commissioner, who is the Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) of the Charminar circle.
The civic body officials, in fact, got to know about his travel history only after the Hyderabad City Police came up with a list of names of people who had attended the conference.
Sources in the GHMC said that its officials, along with the Medical and Health Department team, shifted the EE to a government quarantine centre at Nature Cure Hospital in Balkampet. An in-depth investigation is being conducted into the matter.
It is also learnt that the officer refused to cooperate when the GHMC officials asked him about the Delhi visit.
The GHMC’s surveillance teams are trying to trace his contacts.Meanwhile, the civic body officials are planning to issue a memo to the EE for his unauthorised absence from duties.
It is important to note that the State government has persistently been requesting the attendees of the congregation to come forward.
Forgoing the same, the officer deliberately kept his visit a secret, thereby endangering the lives of others amid the deadly pandemic.