Former Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL) managing director Ashwini Bhide, who had locked horns with the Shiv Sena over the Metro 3 car shed project in Aarey colony, to be part of task force which help BMC to tackle coronavirus outbreak.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has sent two senior IAS officers - Ashwini Bhide and Dr Ramaswamy N - on deputation to the BMC to take steps to contain the spread of the deadly disease in the country's financial capital. The BMC has also formed a 'corona war room' in its disaster control unit which will be functional round-the-clock and various activities like planning, prevention and management of the pandemic will be conducted there.
Bhide will work as coordinator of the war room that will collect and analyse the data on coronavirus disease. As per a report by Hindustan Times, Bhushan Gagrani (previously posted as principal secretary to chief minister’s office), Sanjeev Jaiswal (who announced voluntary exit from Thane Municipal Corporation) and Rajeev Jalota (previously posted as GST commissioner) are a part of the special control room set-up by the Maharashtra government.
Ashwini Bhide had been at loggerheads with the Thackerays over construction of the Metro carshed in the Aarey Colony. After Maha Vikas Aghadi came to power Bhide was moved out of MMRCL and was replaced by Ranjit Singh Deol, an IAS officer of the 1998 batch.
Five fresh coronavirus cases have been reported in Maharashtra taking the total number of positive cases in Maharashtra to 225. Out of the five fresh cases, one has been reported from Mumbai, two from Pune and two from Buldhana.
(Inputs from Agencies)
