Indrakaran Reddy instructs forest staff to get vaccinated

The Minister said the forest department staff, especially those in the field, at checkposts and base camps to be more cautious during the next couple of months, in the wake of increasing Covid-19 cases

Hyderabad: In view of the increasing Covid-19 cases, Forests and Environment Minister A Indrakaran Reddy instructed all the forest personnel working in the field to get vaccinated.

He said the forest department staff, especially those in the field, at checkposts and base camps to be more cautious during the next couple of months, in the wake of increasing Covid-19 cases.

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There are nearly 4,000 field level personnel on duty in the Forest department who are working for fire prevention, curbing hunting and smuggling activities.

The Minister convened a meeting with the department officials here on Thursday and sought details including the number of staff who tested positive, deaths etc.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF) R Shobha informed him that since last year, 236 staff members had tested positive and 11 had succumbed to the virus.

Expressing grief at the death of forest staff, the Minister directed all the staff working at field level to get the vaccine administered immediately.

The government has instructed the district medical officers to make arrangements for administering Covid-19 vaccine for forest department personnel on priority, he said.

Besides vaccination, the staff at field level were directed to strictly follow the Covid-19 guidelines and were asked to take all the precautions while attending to the duties.

The Minister informed the staff to alert Aranya Bhavan authorities in case of any medical and health issues. All measures would be taken to address such issues immediately, he said.

Later, the PCCF held a video conference with district forest officials and instructed them to strictly follow covid guidelines. She wanted all the staff members aged above 45 years to get vaccinated.

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