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, Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, Union health ministry, visited Mumbai on Friday 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.
