As India is reeling with the target of inoculating the COVID-19 vaccine doses to the eligible people within this year, several states are rolling out measures to achieve 100 per cent vaccination against the pandemic. From offering freebies to forcing the people to receive the vaccine doses, the governments are committed to achieving the target amid the predictions of the emergence of the third wave of the pandemic. 

In line with achieving 100 per cent vaccination, the Ujjain district administration in Madhya Pradesh has issued an order of arresting the salary for the government employees if they fail to receive the vaccine. Ujjain district collector Ashish Singh has issued an order on Tuesday in which he has said that the government employees will not get their salaries from next month if they are not inoculated. 

According to reports, the order has said salaries of government employees will not be disbursed if they fail to get vaccinated within July 31. A district official has said that the salaries of employees for July will be released only after producing the vaccination certificate.  Speaking to PTI, Collector Ashish Singh had confirmed the order and said, "We are making all possible efforts to achieve the target of 100 per cent vaccination in the district. Several steps have been taken in this direction." 

As per the order, the district treasury officer has been directed to receive the vaccination certificates along with the disbursement of salaries for June, and compile the information about the inoculation of government employees against the COVID-19 infection. The district administration had ordered the heads of various departments in the district to submit information about vaccination among the daily wage and contractual employees.

The reports say that the order has come after the administration, during the review of deaths of government employees who succumbed to the pandemic, have found that they were not vaccinated. It must be noted that last month, a tribal welfare department in Chhattisgarh had issued a similar warning to the employees that they won't be paid if they don't receive the vaccine. 

The assistant commissioner of the tribal department has claimed that the main objective behind the order was to ensure 100 per cent vaccination of the department's staff members in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. He said, "My intention was to get all my officers and employees vaccinated." The Assistant Commissioner had claimed that 95 per cent of the department's staff members had taken the vaccine shots after the order was issued.