The Delhi government on Tuesday, 24 March, directed officials to take strict penal action against landlords forcing doctors, paramedical staff, and healthcare personnel in the national capital to vacate in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, ANI reported.
"A lot of complaints have been received from doctors/paramedical staff/healthcare personnel all over NCT of Delhi, that their landlords/house-owners are forcing them to vacate their rented residences... such behaviour amounts to obstructing public servant in discharging their duties," read the Delhi government notification.
"All the District Magistrates/Zonal Deputy Commissioners of Municipal Corporations/District Deputy Commissioner of Police are directed to take strict penal action against such landlords/house-owners," it added.
The decision was taken after the resident doctors of India’s premier hospital AIIMS on Tuesday sought the government’s intervention saying their colleagues were facing eviction from their homes by their landlords.
The landlords fear the medical professionals at the forefront of the fight against the novel coronavirus could be infected, PTI reports.
In a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah, the Resident Doctors Association said many staffers were "stranded on roads" with all their luggage, and urged him to release an order prohibiting landlords from evicting health care professionals.
Shah then spoke to the Delhi police chief and asked him to take immediate action to ensure the security of doctors facing harassment, according to PTI.
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(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
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