55-year-old deputy civic chief succumbs to Covid in Mumbai

A senior officer of deputy municipal commissioner (DMC) rank from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) died on Tuesday in his home in Dadar, after testing

A senior officer of deputy municipal commissioner (DMC) rank from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) died on Tuesday in his home in Dadar, after testing positive for Covid-19 on Monday afternoon. He was 55 years old.

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His body was taken to Lokmanya Tilak Municipal General Hospital for an autopsy on Tuesday, which confirmed Covid-19 as the cause of death. According to BMC, the officer died of a likely cardiac arrest on Monday night. On Tuesday, his family called the BMC ward office and informed them of his death. He is survived by his wife, teenaged daughter, and mother-in-law, who lived with him. They have all been quarantined.

The officer was asymptomatic and had spoken on the phone to BMC’s ward-level officers on Monday afternoon after testing positive. A senior officer said, “We spoke to him after his test results came and he said he preferred to be isolated at home as he had a separate room with an attached bathroom. He was not showing any Covid-19 symptoms so this was permitted.”

The officer was working on creating jumbo facilities at the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) in Worli and the Nesco facility at Goregaon. He approached the BMC ward office requesting a test, even though he was not showing any symptoms.

The officer quoted above said the DMC ranked officer who died on Tuesday had reiterated that he felt “absolutely fine”. “I prefer to be quarantined at home. I am showing no symptoms. Let us be in touch on the phone,” he had said.

So far, 1,712 BMC employees have tested positive for Covid-19, and 56 employees including this officer have died of the infection. On Monday, BMC announced Rs 50 lakh compensation to the kin of its employees whose death is due to Covid-19.

Sainath Rajadhyaksha, who chairs Brihanmumbai Municipal Engineers’ Union, said, “The union has demanded every civic staff who is working on the field for Covid-19 relief work should be tested. All those above 50 years of age should be given the choice of whether to work or not.”