Uttarakhand: Online registration hurdle for laborers to get COVID-19 jabs
The mandatory online registration to book a vaccine shot is becoming a hurdle for the laborers and their families in Uttarakhand as they are mostly illiterate and do not have gadgets, according to officials. According to the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, any beneficiary who wants to get inoculated has to register either on Co-WIN or Aarogya Setu app.
No special arrangements have been made for vaccination of laborers
The SOP issued by the Uttarakhand government has kept the movement of laborers in the organized and unorganized sectors free even during a curfew to keep construction works going unhindered, but there is no arrangement yet on how laborers and their families will get vaccinated.
Around 7,000 laborers are registered in Rishikesh
"Poor laborers who are mostly uneducated and illiterate find it difficult to register online for vaccination. They do not even have the gadgets that are needed for online registration," Assistant Labour Commissioner KL Gupta said. "Around seven thousand laborers are registered in Rishikesh who work on different projects in the town and the nearby rural areas," he said.
Laborers can prove to be potential super-spreaders
Thousands of laborers are also engaged separately in the laying of Rishikesh-Karanprayag rail line and the Char Dham all-weather road project. "As they are also privately engaged by people at their homes for building purposes apart from working on big government projects, laborers can be potential super-spreaders of the virus if they remain unvaccinated and keep moving from one place to another," Gupta said.
The problem can undo all efforts made to contain COVID-19
Gupta said, "If the problem is not addressed urgently, it may also undo all that has been done so far to control the spread of the COVID-19 second wave." The Assistant Labour Commissioner said that he is going to bring this problem to the notice of the head of his department so that something is done without much delay to resolve it.
Uttarakhand recorded 3,719 fresh COVID-19 cases on Monday
This issue comes at a time when experts have flagged vaccination to be the most reliable option to contain COVID-19 spread. Uttarakhand has been witnessing an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases off late. On Monday, the state recorded 3,719 fresh COVID-19 cases, and 223 COVID-19 related deaths, thus pushing the state tally to 2,91,005 cases and 5,034 COVID-19 deaths.
