Thane, May 26 (PTI) A 31-year-old employee of the provident fund office in Maharashtra's Thane city died of COVID-19 on Tuesday, an official said.

The death has kicked up a row between the staff union and management, with the former blaming the latter of failure to follow precautionary measures.

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A social security assistant of the provident fund office in Thane city succumbed to COVID-19 in the early hours of Tuesday, general secretary of the EPF staff union Rakesh Acharya confirmed.

In a memorandum to the Additional Central PF Commissioner at Thane, the EPF staff union of Maharashtra said it had sent several letters to the management asking it to follow precautionary guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

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Moreover, the management had also not followed the Central PF commissioner's order to operate with bare minimum staff during the health crisis, the union alleged.

At least six personnel from the office had tested positive for the deadly infection, the union claimed in the letter.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)