Panic grips agri varsity after 2 employees test positive

QUOTE:

Dinesh Manhotra

Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 1

Panic gripped the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu, after two of its employees tested positive.

One of the infected employees is a Junior Research Fellow (JRF) at the university’s entomology division.

While the university higher-ups are tight-lipped, sources said the second positive virus case, who is a Class IV employee, was in close contact with the JRF who had tested positive in Rajasthan. Employees of some divisions of the university have been quarantined.

“A Class IV employee of the division of entomology tested positive on Monday and has come into contact with many employees,” a senior functionary of university said, adding, “Instead of taking the matter seriously, the higher-ups at the university have adopted a casual approach.”

Source said after getting the report that a JRF had tested positive, the university authorities failed to take the precautionary measures.

“The higher-ups argued that the JRF got infected in Rajasthan so there was no need to be worried,” a source said.

“Instead of going for sampling of all contacts of the JRF, the authorities issued an order on Sunday to open the university,” the source said.

Sources said after the Class IV employee tested positive, one thing had become clear that the JRF was also infected in Jammu and had a long chain of contacts.

Meanwhile, two main wholesale markets in Jammu remained closed on Monday after a worker at Nehru Market tested positive. A labourer, who works in the Nehru Market warehouse, tested positive on Sunday. The worker had reportedly visited another wholesale market, Kanak Mandi, so both Nehru Market and Kanak Mandi were shut on Monday.

The Ambphalla branch of J&K Bank was also closed on Monday after the son of an employee tested positive.

Meanwhile, the Jammu province reported 99 positive virus cases in the last 24 hours, the highest in a day. As many as 53 cases tested positive in Ramban, 21 in Doda, eight in Jammu, five in Kathua, four in Kishtwar, two in Poonch, two in Udhampur, three in Rajouri and one in Samba.