With the spike in COVID-19 cases in Mumbai - increasing by 1,000-plus cases daily - the BrihanMumbai Municipal Commission (BMC) on Tuesday undertook a major organisational revamp and finetune its pandemic-control strategy.
Days after Iqbal Singh Chahal took over as municipal commissioner, he has set out tasks for nine IAS officers.
These highly-experienced officers, all of rank of additional municipal commissioners, are Manisha Patankar-Mhaiskar, Ashwini Bhide, Sanjeev Jaiswal, Prajakta Lawangare-Varma, P Velrasu, Suresh Kakani, Dr N Ramaswami and Ashutosh Salil.
Patankar-Mhaiskar will look after augmentation of COVID-19 beds in BMC hospitals - and all deans will report to her.
Bhide will look after overall virus control strategy, war room monitoring and dashboard updation. She will look after contract tracing, institutional quarantining and containment strategies.
Jaiswal will look after foodgrian procurement, cooked food packet distribution, supply chains in containment zones. He would be liasioning with Maharashtra government.
Lawangare-Varma will coordinate with COVID Yoddha volunteers to appoint doctors and nurses. Velrasu will oversee pre-monsoon work, coordinate international arrivals, screening and quarantining.
Kakani will look after major hospitals, peripheral hospitals and primary health facility management. Dr Ramaswami will oversee operations of the Seven Hills hospital, training.
Salil will look over creation of jumbo facilities CCC2 and CCC3, coordinate with various government agencies.