MUMBAI: A 57-year-old assistant municipal commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation's (BMC) H east ward - which consists of areas like Bandra east, Santacruz east, Vakola and Kalina - died on Saturday afternoon after being infected by the novel coronavirus. The ward apart from having the private residence of the chief minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray located in it also consists of some of the densest slum localities like Behrampada and Bharatnagar in Bandra-east.
Thane resident Ashok Khairnar - who originally hailed from Dhule and was undergoing treatment at Mulund's Fortis hospital - is the second senior rung officer to have died after being infected by the virus. Civic sources said that various treatments were administered to him but his condition went on worsening.
On June 8, a 55-year-old deputy municipal commissioner had also died at his Mahim residence, hours after he tested positive for Covid-19. Data obtained from the civic body shows that off the 2198 civic staff who were infected, 102 have died so far.
Khairnar is survived by his wife, two children, a daughter-in-law, a brother, two sisters and a large extended family. He was diabetic and civic sources said that it led to his worsening condition as he kept working continuously.
He was working in the BMC since the year 1988 after completing his B. Tech from VJTI, Mumbai and in the year 2018 was appointed as a assistant municipal commissioner in BMC's G North ward which consists of areas like Dadar, Mahim and Dharavi. Around a year later he was transferred to BMC's H east ward where since the last few months he was involved in containing the outbreak of Covid-19. Despite the ward being among the first few to have reported 1,000 Covid-19 cases and also over 100 deaths it had managed to currently have the city’s lowest growth rate of cases—at 0.5%— and the highest doubling rate of 116 days even though Mumbai's average doubling rate is 49 days.
In June last month Khairnar had told TOI that the stringent containment measures with police assistance coupled with aggressive screening of Covid suspects have helped the BMC manage to slow the spread of the coronavirus in H-East ward, which has a population of around six lakh.
Local civic corporator H east ward Tulip Miranda said that Khairnar was very hands on and recently especially was managing the covid outbreak in the ward efficiently. "Despite the challenges he would systematically answer all our queries patiently and also would ensure that steps were taken to ensure that the situation is improving," said Miranda.
Thane resident Ashok Khairnar - who originally hailed from Dhule and was undergoing treatment at Mulund's Fortis hospital - is the second senior rung officer to have died after being infected by the virus. Civic sources said that various treatments were administered to him but his condition went on worsening.
On June 8, a 55-year-old deputy municipal commissioner had also died at his Mahim residence, hours after he tested positive for Covid-19. Data obtained from the civic body shows that off the 2198 civic staff who were infected, 102 have died so far.
Khairnar is survived by his wife, two children, a daughter-in-law, a brother, two sisters and a large extended family. He was diabetic and civic sources said that it led to his worsening condition as he kept working continuously.
He was working in the BMC since the year 1988 after completing his B. Tech from VJTI, Mumbai and in the year 2018 was appointed as a assistant municipal commissioner in BMC's G North ward which consists of areas like Dadar, Mahim and Dharavi. Around a year later he was transferred to BMC's H east ward where since the last few months he was involved in containing the outbreak of Covid-19. Despite the ward being among the first few to have reported 1,000 Covid-19 cases and also over 100 deaths it had managed to currently have the city’s lowest growth rate of cases—at 0.5%— and the highest doubling rate of 116 days even though Mumbai's average doubling rate is 49 days.
In June last month Khairnar had told TOI that the stringent containment measures with police assistance coupled with aggressive screening of Covid suspects have helped the BMC manage to slow the spread of the coronavirus in H-East ward, which has a population of around six lakh.
Local civic corporator H east ward Tulip Miranda said that Khairnar was very hands on and recently especially was managing the covid outbreak in the ward efficiently. "Despite the challenges he would systematically answer all our queries patiently and also would ensure that steps were taken to ensure that the situation is improving," said Miranda.
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