In an effort to improve the doubling rate of coronavirus in Mumbai, the BMC is going to give charge of its 7 zones to IAS officers.
In a circular issued by former municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi on May 7, BMC has set a target of improving the doubling rate of cases from 10 days to 20 days by May 17.
The circular states that these officers will be in field till 2pm and then, after reviewing the situation, will give a daily brief to the commissioner by 6pm through video conferencing.
According to the circular, the charges of these officers are as follows-
- A L Jarhad : Zone 1 (Colaba, Byculla, CST, Malabar Hill)
- Manisha Mhaiskar : Zone 2 (Worli, Dharavi, Parel, Sion)
- N Ramaswami : Zone 3 (Bandra, Santacruz)
- Suresh Kakani : Zone 4 (Andheri, Goregaon)
- Jayshree Bhoj : Zone 5 (Chembur, Kurla)
- Ashwini Bhide : Zone 6 (Ghartkopar, Bhandup, Mulund)
- and P Velarasu : zone 7 (Kandivali, Borivali, Dahisar)
Since Jarhad and Bhoj were transferred on Friday, their predecessors may take up their charge.
According to a senior BMC official, in order to improve the doubling rate, the officers will need to work on a 10 point agenda, including mapping of positive cases, contact tracing, forming containment zones, house to house survey, identifying comorbid patients, testing symptomatic persons as well as organizing fever clinics.
Total COVID-19 cases in Mumbai on Friday were 12,142. They have doubled in 10 days from 6,169 on April 28. Significant increase has been seen in the slum areas of Dharavi, Worli and Wadala.
