Covid fear looms large; co-ops forced to work from home

The rising cases of Covid 19 and the subsequent news of the shortage of hospital beds and oxygen have forced co-operative leaders to be extra vigilant and enforce Work from Home regime.

NCUI headquarters which is located within the Delhi municipal limit, is closed and opened at intervals. Now NCUI will open up on the coming Monday, said an official. News is its CE Sudhir Mahajan has also fallen victim to Covid 19 virus. There are many others including Ritesh Dey (Director) who is battling Covid along with their families.

IFFCO headquarters at Saket in Delhi is also closed with security staffs manning the building. There were many cases of Corona scourge at its headquarters with even the Marketing Director Yogendra Kumar falling victim to it earlier. “I was forced to undergo quarantine for a fortnight but I am fit now and we are focussing on urgent issues under the guidance of our MD”, said Kumar to this correspondent.

Co-op lender NCDC is also allowing only 50 percent of its staff members to its headquarters in Delhi. There are many cases of Covid in the office but that has not stopped its MD Sundeep Nayak  or PR Head R Vanitha from coming to office on daily basis, said an official.

At Kribhco, many cases of its employees falling victim to Corona Virus came up which finally led to the closure of its Noida based headquarters. We are working from home and the work as well as the production at factories are going on uninterrupted”, said a top official.

It bears recall that the production at IFFCO and Kribhco units spread across the states are going on uninterrupted with special emphasis on Oxygen production, as pledged by them to the nation. They are to supply oxygen for free to hospitals.

Nafed with its iconic tower at Ashram Chowk in Delhi is following a roster with 50 per cent staff present in the office. “The work is going on as usual, though I am myself battling the virus”, said Tarun Handa PR Head at Nafed.

The stories coming from other states are no different. Once again co-operatives across the country are forced to allow their employees to work from home to curb the transmission of Covid-19. It is obvious, Coronavirus not only disrupted the work of corporates but also co-ops on a large scale.

In the wake of Covid-19, the Maharashtra government postponed the elections of cooperative bodies, including housing societies till August 2021.

Besides, the cooperative banks across the states are running their offices with 50 percent workforce and also reducing the working hours. Bank is urging people to avoid visiting branches until there is an emergency.

Situations in the state of Gujarat and Karnataka and at other places are also grim with co-op bodies forced to follow strict covid guidelines. MDs, CEOs and BoDs are taking necessary steps to save their employees from virus and allowing them to work from home.

India added more than 3.3 lakh cases on Thursday, the second consecutive day it added over three lakh new cases and a new record for any country anywhere in the world. No country had so far added these many cases for two consecutive days, reports Times of India.

(With inputs from Ajay Jha)