Corpn pulls up staff for shoddy survey work, warns action

As a preventive measure against COVID-19, the civic body had started the door-todoor survey across the city to identify persons with symptoms.

During the survey, the officials have been asked to gather names, phone numbers and street name, and the wardwise details collected should be uploaded to the computers.

Reports should also be sent to the office. A communication dated April 7 sent by Teynampet zonal officer to sanitary inspectors and engineers said the sanitary inspectors, conservancy inspectors and engineers failed to complete the door-todoor survey and send reports to the office as directed. The zonal officer also sought the reason for non-completion of the survey works, and warned of departmental action if they failed to send reasons for noncompliance.

Apart from sending a blanket memo to all the staff, the civic body also had sent individual memos to the sanitary inspectors. One such memo asked a sanitary inspector the reasons for not maintaining a registry of workers employed to conduct the survey and warned of action.

However, when asked, a sanitary inspector pointed out the vacancies in the civic body. According to the person, nearly half of the divisions in the civic body lacked sanitary inspectors. “Each sanitary inspector have been given the responsibility of more than one ward. Apart from this, there is a dearth in the workers to carry out the door-to-door survey,” the sanitary inspector said.

Meanwhile, the civic body has started another door-to-door survey to identify and treat persons with symptoms. More than 10,000 workers have been appointed to carry out the drive and cover more than 19 lakh households in the city.