After 21 days of quarantine, 65 sanitation workers of Doiwala set to resume work today

Dehradun:　After spending over 21 days in quarantine, 65 sanitation　workers, of the total 120, at the Doiwala municipal

council

are expected to return　to work from Friday. The officials said that the

workers

have tested negative for novel coronavirus　on May 5 by the team of doctors.

The workers were quarantined in Keshavpuri and Rajeev Nagar localities after two cases were reported from there. The workers, however, continued to work in these two wards.

Vijay Chauhan

, executive officer of Doiwala municipal council, said, "It will be a big relief to us as in the absence of more than 50% of the

sanitation

staff, managing the daily operation had become very difficult. In one ward, at least four workers are required for sanitation and other daily jobs. With the additional task of daily sanitisation of areas with sodium hypochlorite, and door-to-door waste collection, we are under tremendous pressure."

"We will run another thermal scan on all the 65 sanitation workers after which they will be deployed across 20 wards from Friday. We are recording the temperature of every

sanitation worker

before they are sent to work every day. In addition, training session are also being conducted for them as precautionary measures," Chauhan added.

Doiwala municipal council has a total strength of 120 sanitation workers against a population of over 70,000 people. “The sanitation workers are looking after a very large area. We have to ensure that each worker has a soap, sanitizer, gloves and mask with them,” said the officials.