In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday removed Praveen Pardeshi from the post of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) commissioner even as the maximum city is grappling with rising number of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Pardeshi has been transferred as additional chief secretary in the urban development department.
Iqbal Singh Chahal, who is presently the principal secretary in the urban development department, will take charge as the BMC chief.
Former Thane Municipal Commissioner Sanjeev Jaiswal will replace Abasaheb Jarhad as the additional commissioner of BMC. Jarhad has been transferred as the relief and rehabilitation secretary.
In another move, present relief and rehabilitation secretary Kishorraje Nimbalkar has been transferred as public works department secretary, replacing Manoj Saunik, who will be additional chief secretary in the finance department.
The key rejig in bureaucracy came at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic cases in Mumbai continued to show an upward trend. As of Friday, the financial capital alone has reported 11,394 cases while the total cases in Maharashtra climbed to 18,000. At least 694 persons have succumbed to the disease so far in the state, 437 of them in Mumbai.
Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 patients in Dharavi, Mumbai's biggest slum sprawl, reached 808 on Friday as 25 more persons tested positive for the infection, a senior official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said.
The death toll in the area also rose to 26, he said.
Although the death toll increased on Friday, no deaths were reported during the day, he said.
"Till Thursday night, Dharavi's death toll was 21. The five death cases were added in the tally on Friday although these patients had died in the last few days," the official said.
Of the 808 patients, 222 have been discharged so far from hospitals after recovery, he added.
Dharavi, believed to be the biggest slum in India, is posing a tough challenge for the BMC and the Maharashtra government to contain the coronavirus spread, mainly due to its population density, which makes social distancing very difficult.
Earlier in the day, Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, Union health ministry, visited Mumbai to take a stock of the situation in the state. The Centre has asked the Maharashtra government to increase surveillance in the congested areas to stop the spread of the virus.
(With PTI inputs)