Misal was in for a shock in the morning when he received a message from Bangar, an IAS officer of the 2008 batch, that said he had reached the NMMC office to take over the reins of the corporation. Misal was at home when he received the message.
Just three weeks ago, on June 23, Misal had received transfer orders from the general administration department. Instead of handing over charge to Bangar, Misal used his goodwill in certain quarters to secure an oral stay on his transfer. As a result, he was asked by additional chief secretary Sitaram Kunte to continue in office until further orders.
Misal’s transfer order of June 23 was said to have been orally stayed by the then chief secretary Ajoy Mehta following the intervention of urban development minister Eknath Shinde.
On receiving the message, Misal made an attempt to cancel his transfer but did not succeed. He quickly reached office and handed over charge to Bangar.
It was learnt that Misal was not told that Bangar would be taking over. “It was expected that Kunte will inform Misal that a new appointment has been made in his place. So far, no new assignment has been given to Misal,” a bureaucrat said.
The failure of Misal to tackle the situation in Navi Mumbai was given as the reason for his transfer. “He was given an opportunity in the last 15 days, but he reduced the number of tests done and, as a result, there was a reduction in number of cases,” the bureaucrat said.
Bangar said that breaking the Covid chain would be his priority. On the problems faced in terms of availability of beds in Covid-19 hospitals and Covid Care Centres, Bangar said: “There is an issue because of insufficient number of beds, including those with oxygen supply and ICUs. Hence, we will have to raise the number of beds and also have a transparent online portal where the latest situation of beds is instantly known.”
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/mumbai/navi-mumbais-civic-chief-replaced-in-bolt-from-blue/articleshow/76969927.cms
