• The order follows an April 11 order issued by the Bilaspur District Collector which declared the complete area under Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district a containment zone

• According to the official order issued by SECL, employees who will not work from home and/or are out of town or on leave will be treated as absent or on leave

New Delhi: Days after the district authorities of Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur declared the town a COVID-19 containment zone, coal miner South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) has issued an official order on Monday, asking all its employees to work from home (WFH) from April 14 to April 21. According to the official order, "… during the period from 14.04.2021 to 21.04.2021, the SECL HQs, Bilaspur, will remain closed and employees will be required to work from home."

The order follows an April 11 order issued by the Bilaspur District Collector which declared the complete area under Chhattisgarh's Bilaspur district a containment zone, prohibiting almost all activities during the period from 6 am of April 14 to 12 am of April 21, in order to contain the spread of COVID-19.

SECL says employees out of town/on leave will be treated as absent or on leave

According to the official order issued by SECL, employees who will not work from home and/or are out of town or on leave will be treated as absent or on leave. "For the purpose of salary/wages preparation (billing), attendance of employees for the above period would be taken as certified by the concerned HoD," SECL told its employees. 

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It added, "Employees while working from home, should be available on telephone/mobile and electronic means of communication during normal working hours, so that they could be contacted, as per the need."

The backdrop

The order comes close on the heels of a representation made by the All India Association of Coal Executives (AIACE), in which it urged the SECL management to allow staggered duty hours in corporate offices and fields and or work from home to contain the spread of COVID-19. There has been a steep rise in COVID-19 infections in Bilaspur over the past few weeks, forcing the district administration to declare the entire district a containment zone. On April 11, Chhattisgarh reported 10,521 fresh coronavirus positive cases, taking the tally to 4,43,297, and 122 fatalities which pushed the toll to 4,899. 

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