Mumbai gets new civic body chief amid rise in COVID-19 cases

Mumbai, the city worst affected due to COVID-19 in India, got a new civic body chief on Friday (May 8). Iqbal Chahal replaced Praveen Pardeshi as the chief of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), reported NDTV.

The report said Pardeshi has been transferred to urban development department where Chahal was earlier posted. The financial capital has reported 11,219 cases, including 437 deaths, as of Thursday night.

Meanwhile, the BMC, the agency which is in charge of the city’s COVID-19 response, on Friday cancelled its order issued 10 days back and came out with a revised one, in which it mandated only 75 per cent of its staff to attend office instead of 100 per cent to maintain social distancing.

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The fresh circular states that social distancing was lacking as almost 100 per cent staff and officers had started attending offices. As per its April 30 circular, the civic body had made 100 attendance mandatory for all its employees.

The fresh circular says that the new attendance rule will be applicable till further notice. The BMC said that if the attendance dips below 75 per cent, then the employee concerned would be marked absent without leave.

The new circular also directs that barring the emergency services staff, 25 per cent of the 75 per cent employees should be engaged in tasks like contact tracing, quarantine management, hospital management, and desilting, close to their homes.

The civic body has also given some relaxations to the staff and officers above 55 years of age.

(With inputs from agencies)