India / Back to work: Sitharaman posts pic in home-made mask as she rejoins office

New Delhi: Marking a move to return to normal functioning of the government despite the lockdown, Union Ministers and top officials returned to their offices on Monday morning. One of them was Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman who said she is back to working at her North Block office while taking necessary precautions in the wake of coronavirus spread.

“Back to working in North Block office with a home-made mask this morning,” Sitharaman tweeted. She also tweeted a photo in which she was seen wearing a home-made mask.

Back to working in North Block office with a home-made mask this morning. pic.twitter.com/SlkxZdYuab

— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) April 13, 2020

Meanwhile, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar also held a meeting with officials of Information and Broadcasting Ministry at Shastri Bhawan while his cabinet colleague Jitendra Singh attended a meeting at North Block.

Both were seen wearing masks as a precautionary measure.

Youth Affairs and Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju, who reached the Sports Authority of India earlier today, said all guidelines regarding COVID-19 will be followed and only senior officials and minimum required staff will be coming to office.

“Only senior officials and minimum required staff will be coming to the office today onwards. We will follow all guidelines regarding COVID-19,” Rijiju told ANI.

Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who also attended a meeting with officials today, said: “We started the work from today. We are maintaining social distancing norms and other precautions.”

Apart from the ministers, around one-third of the essential staff re-joined work in every ministry and department, with social distancing norms in place.

Today is the twentieth day of the 21-day lockdown which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month in a bid to contain coronavirus spread.