How is third wave affecting public services?

Public services have been affected as new variants of the coronavirus have spread to the Omicron community. The risk of infection is high in government offices that are crowded with service recipients. In view of the increasing number of infections, public bodies have tightened health care standards since the service cuts.

The Land Revenue Office has suspended the regular service flow except for the essentials with effect from Sunday. According to Land Revenue Officer Devendra Bahadur Thapa, the corona infection has been confirmed in four employees and other employees have been living in solitary confinement with similar symptoms.

He said that the service flow of the office has been suspended till further notice. Land Revenue Office is a crowded office. A situation has been created where the general public is deprived of getting services on time after the service is stopped. Ordinary people come to the district headquarters from far and wide to get the services of the landlord. The Transportation Management Office has also not been able to conduct an experimental test for driver's licenses due to the new wave of the corona epidemic. Chief of the office, Parsingh Thapa, said that attention has been paid to adhere to health safety standards in other service delivery as well.

"The trial of the license will be more crowded and there will be a challenge in the management, so it is not possible to test it now," he said. He said that further decisions would be taken after discussions with the concerned parties about the suspended trial examination. The risk of infection is high in the district administration and other offices where more service seekers come. In some public areas, compliance with public health standards has been neglected. The District Covid-19 Crisis Management Center has formulated new rules to make the flow of public services systematic and safe.

In view of the increasing transition, the District Administration, Land Revenue and Survey Offices have decided to provide services on a daily basis according to the local level. Services will be provided to the service recipients of Baglung Municipality and Kathekhola Municipality on Sunday / Monday, Galkot Municipality and Tarakhola Municipality on Tuesday / Wednesday, and Jamini Municipality and Bareng Municipality on Thursday / Friday.

Similarly, the Area Administration, Land Revenue, and Survey Office in Burtibang will provide services to the service recipients of Dhorpatan Municipality on Sunday / Monday, Nisikhola Municipality on Tuesday / Wednesday, Badigad and Tamankhola Municipality on Thursday / Friday.

Apart from those mentioned in the schedule, it has been decided to provide services to other local-level service recipients all day long. This is mentioned in the order issued by Chief District Officer Ramesh Dhakal on the basis of the recommendation of the Center and the decision of the District Security Committee.

According to Prajia Dhakal, additional rules and criteria have been set to fight the epidemic from midnight on Monday. It has become impossible to hold all kinds of programs, meetings, and conferences till mid-January. There is a rule that only daily worship can be done in a religious place. Similarly, vaccination card has been made mandatory for persons above 18 years of age to avail services from all public bodies including banks and financial institutions.

Criteria have been set for not allowing more than 25 participants in weddings, fasts, religious and cultural processions, rituals, etc. Even in hotels and restaurants, the service recipients who have been fully vaccinated from Tuesday will be able to get the service only on the basis of a vaccination card. According to the health office, there are currently 339 active corona infections in the district. The number of infected people has been increasing daily in recent days. On Sunday alone, the corona was confirmed in 36 people, said Dev Prakash Ghimire, a source at Covid-19 of the health office.