In a bittersweet moment, the Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) of Dhanbad, Anil Kumar Mishra tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday after he underwent swab testing through a private lab, while the DRM office, having jurisdiction over 128 stations spread over five states, opened after being sealed for three days.

Mishra was tested when some of the staff in his office tested positive last week. Sixty seven others from Dhanbad, one of the worst-hit districts of Jharkhand, have also tested positive on Sunday taking up the tally in the district to 469.

Dhanbad Deputy Commissioner, Uma Shankar Singh said that Mishra will remain in home isolation.

The DRM office, a powerful centre of administrative control, at Dhanbad was sealed for three days from July 31 to August 2 after two of its staff were tested positive. As many as 21 other staff, who had come into contact with the two positive staff, were put on home quarantine.

This was the second sealing of the DRM Office since the beginning to the Covid crisis, as on April 20 it was shut down for mandatory sanitisation after a trackman, a resident of DS Colony locality of Dhanbad, who had returned from his in-law’s place in Chas, had tested positive.

With Covid cases spreading far and wide, several other places like Office of the Directorate General of Mines Safety, Jamadoba Colliery of Tata Steel, Dhanbad Press Club and several public sector banks were also sealed after employees tested positive.

As many as 28 persons, including a 69-year-old and eight women, were also released from the Covid Hospital of Dhanbad. The released persons included 17 from Dedicated Covid Hospital, Jagjivan Nagar and 11 from Patliputra Medical College and Hospital based Dedicated Covid Health Centre.

Singh said the released patients will have to remain in home quarantine for 14 days.

In a bid to encourage the lab technicians, ambulance operators and sweepers engaged in Covid duty, Dhanbad district administration has decided to provide incentives for exemplary work. Dhanbad DC, Singh said, "The lab technicians carrying out 450-500 tests on RT-PCR per day will get an incentive of 20 per cent over their remuneration. Those carrying out 500-550 tests will get the incentive of 25 per cent. Those who carry out over 550 tests in a day will get an incentive of 30 per cent.”

Similarly, other lab technicians carrying out tests on TrueNat machines will be given 20 per cent incentive for carrying out five to six rounds of tests, while those carrying out between six to seven rounds of tests will get 25 per cent incentive. Those carrying out over seven rounds of tests will get 30 per cent incentive, he added.

Similarly, Covid ambulance drivers and sweepers of Covid hospitals, among others, will also get 20 -30 per cent incentive on the recommendations of doctors.