Officials of the Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha Secretariat have requested the government to set up a 30-bed Covid care centre with oxygen support for staff of the State Assembly at the old Vidhan Sabha building in Sector 2 citing a crisis of beds in the state capital and a rise in cases of infection among the staff working in the State Assembly.

In a letter addressed to the Principal Secretary of Home, Prisons and Disaster Management Department recently, the Deputy Secretary of Vidhan Sabha, Ranjit Kumar also asked the government to ensure supply of life-saving drugs to the medical store at the new Vidhan Sabha building in Dhurwa for fast and effective treatment of Assembly staff infected by Coronavirus.

“Several staff and officials of the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat have died of Covid-19 recently. Upper Secretary Manohar Lakra, Emergency Secretary Deepak Shukla and Administrative Officer Rajesh Pandey have succumbed to Coronavirus infection,” the letter stated, adding that several other employees of the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat were critical after contracting the viral infection.

“Given the crisis of beds in hospitals, it cannot be denied that the situation can get worse in the days to come. I would, therefore, request you to set up a 30-bed Covid care centre with oxygen support at the old Vidhan Sabha building for our staff and ensure supply of life-saving drugs to the medical store at the new Vidhan Sabha building,” Kumar further stated in the letter.

In the letter on behalf of Vidhan Sabha staff, Kumar has also requested the government to allow use of the Vidhan Sabha ambulance for staff infected by the virus and provide sufficient oxygen support in the ambulance during the ongoing crisis.

The Russian Hostel at Sector 2 was temporarily used as the state assembly in Jharkhand since the formation of the state back in 2000. The new Vidhan Sabha building at Dhurwa was inaugurated in 2019 and is since being used as the permanent State Assembly.

“A letter has been sent to the concerned officials and we are hoping that the government will do the needful at the earliest. The situation is fast going out of control and the crisis of beds is only adding to our problems,” said a staff in the public relations department of the Vidhan Sabha.

The active caseload of Covid-19 breached the 20,000 mark in Ranchi on Saturday, and the district has enough Covid beds to only treat around 20 per cent of the patients, say health officials. Amid the unprecedented spike in cases, Covid fatalities have also been on the rise here.