Mumbai: Municipal Commissioner reassigns duties of IAS officers on Covid task force

While Mhaiskar has been tasked with ramping up beds for patients in hospitals and care centres, as well as decongest health facilities, Bhide has been deputed to handle BMC’s Covid-19 war room, contact tracing and containment zones. (Representational)

Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal on Tuesday reassigned works to all IAS officers appointed in BMC to tackle Covid-19 pandemic.

While BMC’s four additional commissioners – Suresh Kakani, Ashwini Bhide, P Velarasu and Sanjeev Jaiswal – and other bureaucrats, including Manisha Mhaiskar, Prajakta Lavangare and N Ramaswami, are at present on special deputation to BMC, Joint Municipal Commissioner Ashutosh Salil is also a part of the Covid-19 task force.

While Mhaiskar has been tasked with ramping up beds for patients in hospitals and care centres, as well as decongest health facilities, Bhide has been deputed to handle BMC’s Covid-19 war room, contact tracing and containment zones. Jaiswal has been made in charge of formulating policies to relax lockdown rules in a phased manner and on migrant labour. IAS officer Lavangare is in charge of Covid Yoddha Volunteers at containment zones, and of screening elderly citizens with comorbidity.

Additional Municipal Commissioner P Velarasu will handle pre-monsoon preparedness work, and incoming passengers at the Mumbai airport. While Kakani has been made the in charge of the health department, Ramaswami is in charge of enhancing medical facilities at Seven Hills hospital. Ashutosh Salil has been given the responsibility of creating jumbo facilities for quarantine and look into corporate social responsibility.