Second COVID death of a highly placed AOD official in Digboi

 Top AOD official succumbs to COVID-19; panic grips Digboi

OUR CORRESPONDENT

DIGBOI: Following the death of a Gujarat-based worker engaged in the AOD refinery overhauling works in Digboi earlier on February 25 due to COVID-19 infection, Digboi witnesses the second death of a highly placed AOD official who was General Manager (Materials Department). He had been under ventilation at AMCH Dibrugarh after testing COVID-19 positive about a week ago.

A top brass of the Digboi AOD management, Mrinal Kumar Sharma succumbed to the dreadful virus on Thursday afternoon after acute respiratory problem. He was undergoing treatment at AMCH since the past week. He tested positive at the AOD hospital and after two days of home isolation, he was shifted to AMCH when his condition worsened. He was supposed to be taken to Delhi by air ambulance on Thursday. He expired at Mohanbari Airport before being shifted to the air ambulance.

His wife also tested positive and was shifted to AMCH on Wednesday morning. Earlier, his son had also tested positive for the virus and was discharged recently after treatment.

The situation is alarming in Digboi following a sudden spike in COVID cases, mostly detected among the employees, workers and officials of the IOC (AOD) management. Several officials who tested positive recently have either been kept in home isolation or are undergoing treatment at AMCH, Dibrugarh.

Contact tracing is not an easy task now following the sudden outbreak of COVID-19 again in Digboi wherein the source of the virus is yet to be traced. Based on the rapid rise in positive cases and frequent death of people, it is assumed that the virus has silently spread over a large area leading to community transmission

"Had the AOD authority acted rationally, restricting the movement of hundreds of hired workers from various parts of the country, the situation would not have slipped out of hand," said one of the registered contractors of the AOD Digboi.

A section of AOD employees, while lamenting the blunder of the management, said that all the workers coming from outside the State should have been immediately quarantined on their arrival. Tests should have been made mandatory and those testing positive should have been immediately sent to the COVID Care Unit without letting them mingle with the public. "Focusing on annual industrial turnover at the cost of the lives of workers, officials, their dependents, and above all endangering the lives of the people at large, clearly depicts the faulty policies and indifferent attitude of the authority concerned," said conscious citizens.

Though efforts are afoot to sanitize the vulnerable locations, yet no stringent provisions have been taken by the district authority to prohibit gatherings in public places or to make wearing of masks compulsory. Ironically, hundreds of hired workers engaged daily in refinery overhauling jobs are still seen carelessly moving around in public places without wearing masks or maintaining social distancing.

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