New BMC chief visits Dharavi after taking charge

Iqbal Singh Chahal, who has been appointed as the new Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation commissioner, on Saturday visited Mumbai's biggest slum sprawl, Dharavi and took stock of COVID-19 situation.

Till Friday, the number of COVID-19 patients in Dharavi reached 808 while the death toll was at 26

Chahal has been appointed as the new commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation while Pravin Pardeshi transferred to the urban development department as additional chief secretary.

The development comes amid the COVID-19 battle, while the cases continue to soar in Mumbai with 11,967 coronavirus cases and 462 deaths.

Chahal, a 1989 batch IAS of Maharashtra Cadre has served at the Centre also during United Progressive Alliance government on deputation.

Earlier, theBMC amended its earlier order in order to reduce employees strength to 75 per cent to maintain social distancing in its offices in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

In its order dated April 30, BMC mandated 100 per cent attendance for all its employees in offices and on-field, with some relaxation to people over 55 years of age and people with medical conditions.

All staff over the age of 55 years are advised to either work from home or work in the office and not go on the field, the corporation had said