Nagpur:- Since the outbreak of Covid-19 in Nagpur Central Jail, about 40-45 prison workers have remained ‘absent’ from work for the last few days. The administration is being forced to consider the possibility of approaching police in the near future with a complaint against them. The prison administration has so far attempted to send reminders to the absentee workers to get them back to work.
Sources from Nagpur Central Jail said the administration is facing a shortage of staff as 57 staff are in solitary confinement after positive testing and another 45 are not showing up for work. It’s learned that even after they tested negative, the staffers have kept away from work.
Sources said Nagpur Central Jail has roughly 350 employees, including many serving administrative jobs. Around 1,860 inmates are in jail, including 34 positive corona, at the Covid Care Center in the jail.
SP, Nagpur Central Jail, Anup Kumar Kumre said the absenteeism has caused a huge staff shortage in the prison. “We are running less manpowered jail. First of all, we’ll try to get the workers to return by giving them notices immediately. In the event that no one turns up, action would start, “he said.
“Even after testing negative, I turned up for work and didn’t stay sitting at home. We are servants of government, and can’t act irresponsibly, “he said.
Despite this, the prison authorities and the city police encountered more anxious moments after Monday’s attempted murder inmate, who had tested positive, attempted to flee the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH). There was panic among duty cops, jail administration, and also GMCH management after his ward missed the Covid positive prisoner.
A source in Ajni police said they launched a search after the alarm was raised, a few hours after the convict became untraceable. “The prisoner had been discovered in a different room. He had been hiding behind a bathroom, “an Ajni police station official said. “The convict said he’d gone seeking soap. No action was initiated, as he was unable to escape, “the official said.
Sources in the prison also said some of the staffers had a split over the spread of the prison-inside infection. “An unnecessary game of blame has begun among staffers who had entered verbal duels with groundless accusations. After three and a half months of keeping the place safe, some of the staffers blamed some others for the outbreak,’ the source said.
