12 IAS officers swing into action to handle Pune Covid crisis

Last week, Pune district guardian minister Ajit Pawar chaired a meeting with senior IAS officers and raised concern over the increasing number of Covid-19 positive cases

With the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Pune, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar appointed 12 Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers in Pune to handle the Covid situation in the city. There were three IAS officers working in Pune including municipal commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad and two additional municipal commissioners Rubal Agrawal and Shantanu Goyal. The state government has appointed nine additional senior IAS officers who would work in the municipal area for handling the Covid-19 situation.

Health workers during a door to door screening for coronavirus in a slum near Dandekar bridge in Pune. (Pratham Gokhale/HT Photo)

Last week, Pune district guardian minister Pawar chaired a meeting with senior IAS officers and raised concern over the increasing number of Covid-19 positive cases. Pawar said in the meeting that the cases in Mumbai started decreasing but why was it not happening in Pune. He also warned officers to act speedily or face action. In the same meeting, Pawar instructed to appoint dedicated officers for testing and other works.

After Pawar’s instructions, divisional commissioner Deepak Mhaisekar appointed five IAS officers in the city on Monday.

Mhaisekar appointed the director-general of Maharashtra council of agriculture education and research Vishwajeet Mane and gave him the responsibility of Covid testing in the city. Mane will be responsible for monitoring both government and private laboratories.

Sports director Omprakash Bakoria was deputed for contact tracing. He will follow up on contact tracing of positive cases and try to find an early detection.

The tribal research and training institute commissioner Pavneet Kaur will concentrate on bed availability and co-ordination. If complaints start flowing in on unavailability of beds, Kaur will be responsible to follow up and coordinate on any shortages or arrangements.

Agricultural commissioner Suhas Diwase will coordinate with non- governmental organisations and invite public participation for handling the Covid-19 crisis.

PMPML chairman and managing director Nayana Gunde was appointed as the in-charge for ambulance availability and coordination.

Along with these five IAS officers, last month chief secretary of Maharashtra appointed four IAS officers in the city who are already working with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). These IAS officers were given the responsibility of various regional ward offices. The four IAS officers are Saurabh Rao (sugar commissioner), Anil Kawade (co-operative commissioner), Sachindra Pratap Singh (animal husbandry commissioner), Kaustubh Divegaonkar (groundwater survey and development agency).

IAS officers working in Pune

1 Saurabh Rao -sugar commissioner

2 Anil Kawade -co-operative commissioner

3 Sachindra Pratap Singh –animal husbandry commissioner

4 Kaustubh Diwegaonkar –groundwater survey and development agency

5 Vishwajeet Mane – director-general – MCAER

6 Omprakash Bakoria -sports director

7 Pavneet Kaur -commissioner tribal research and training institute

8 Suhas Divase – agricultural commissioner

9 Nayana Gunde -PMPML chairman and managing director

10 Shekhar Gaikwad -Pune municipal commissioner

11 Rubal Agrawal -additional municipal commissioner

12 Shantanu Goyal – additional municipal commissioner

Two more IAS officers working in Pune are

Deepak Mhaisekar – Pune divisional commissioner

Naval Kishor Ram – Pune district collector