Get vaccine certificate to get salary: Punjab govt to employees

State governments are cracking down on the unvaccinated in various ways.

In Punjab, government employees were told on Wednesday that they won’t get their salary without providing a vaccination certificate.

One can be fully vaccinated or taken a single dose, but they will have to upload the certificates on the Punjab government’s job portal if they want their salary, the state government said in an order.

The order, however, does not mention what it intends to do about employees who aren’t vaccinated.

Also read: AIIMS chief issues warning amid Omicron rise; Modi to review situation

Vaccination certificates have to be uploaded on the Punjab government’s iHRMS – Integrated Human Resource Management System – website which streamlines salary payments and retirement benefit withdrawals. The pay is credited automatically only to the account of an employee’s designated bank account, preventing fraud in salary distribution.

Punjab’s strict vaccination policy comes at a time when there is concern over the highly transmissible Omicron strain of coronavirus that has already spread across the world.

India has so far reported over 210 cases of Omicron, of which 90 people have recovered, the health ministry said on Wednesday. Punjab has not had an Omicron case so far.

In neighbouring Haryana, those not fully vaccinated will not be allowed in public places after January 1, while in Delhi, Christmas and New Year gatherings have been banned.