Ten days after it issued a letter detailing ‘support for the Income Tax Department against COVID-19’, the Human Resource Development wing of the Department withdrew the letter, citing inadvertent errors, on Friday. The letter, dated July 1, had asked tax officers to turn to “a family doctor, a state or local health department, US government agencies or an international organisation” as sources to find people and resources for accurate health information regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. “Find people and resources you can depend on for accurate health information. Learn from them about the outbreak and how you can protect yourself against illness if you are at risk. You may turn to your family doctor, a state or local health department, US government agencies, or an international organisation,” said the letter under the sub-head ‘Get the Facts’. The withdrawal of the letter came after the factual inconsistencies of referring to “the US government agencies” instead of Indian agencies were noticed, an official said. The guidelines were issued after approval from the CBDT Chairman, the letter stated. The letter, reviewed by The Indian Express, was sent by Human Resource Development, Directorate of Income Tax, prescribing guidelines for the 18 tax zones to deal with stress related situations amongst tax officials in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter stated that the tax officials may develop a structure in the 18 zones to identify an “emotionally deprived/stressed officer/official” and “encourage them to attend the group session by a clinical psychologist locally”. “At the least 2 session per week may be organised by each CCA region which may be informed to Pr. DGIT (HRD), CBDT,” it said. The letter stated that the Income Tax Department has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic like any other Department, listing out methods for relaxation such as setting limits on reading or watching news about the outbreak, eating healthy along with physical exercise. “Set limits on how much time you spend reading or watching news about the outbreak. You will want to stay up to date on news of the outbreak, particularly if you have loved ones in places where many people have gotten sick. But make sure to take time away from news to focus things in your life that are going well and that you can control,” the letter stated. What was the letter about? The letter stated that the Income Tax Department has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic like any other Department, listing out methods for relaxation such as setting limits on reading or watching news about the outbreak, eating healthy along with physical exercise.
