Governor Koshyari shifts to Nagpur, officials say Covid cases in Mumbai Raj Bhavan not reason
India

Governor Koshyari shifts to Nagpur, officials say Covid cases in Mumbai Raj Bhavan not reason

25 staff members tested positive in last few weeks. Officials claimed Governor’s Nagpur visit not due to Covid but said Nagpur Raj Bhavan better equipped for isolation.

   
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai

File photo of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai | PTI Photo

Mumbai: Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has shifted base to Nagpur, weeks after Mumbai’s sprawling Raj Bhavan located in the plush Malabar Hill area, was hit by Covid-19, with about 10 per cent of the total staff members testing positive.

As many as 25 Raj Bhavan employees, including four IAS officers, tested positive in the past three weeks. While most have recovered, four still have mild symptoms. These four patients have been admitted to nearby hospitals, officials from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the Mumbai Raj Bhavan told ThePrint. 

Koshyari had tested negative for Covid earlier this month.

‘Nagpur visit not due to Covid’

The Governor’s office tweeted about Koshyari’s arrival in Nagpur Wednesday with a video showing him alighting from a plane, wearing a mask and greeting the divisional commissioner, Nagpur police chief, municipal chief and other officers with folded hands.

 

Neither Koshyari, nor his office, however, specified the reason for his visit or mentioned any date of return.

Mumbai Raj Bhavan officials ThePrint spoke to said the governor’s Nagpur visit was not due to Covid, but added that the setting at the Nagpur Raj Bhavan does provide for better isolation.

“The governor had anyway cut down on face-to-face meetings ever since the lockdown came into place. After people in Raj Bhavan were found to carry the infection, he further reduced his meetings to almost none. He has mostly been holding webinars and video conferences. Communication via email has also increased,” an official from the Mumbai Raj Bhavan said. 

“He had been meaning to visit Nagpur for some time now, and since there are no official meetings being held at the Mumbai Raj Bhavan currently, this seemed like an ideal time,” the official added. 

He, however, conceded that the Nagpur Raj Bhavan premises are better equipped for isolation than the Mumbai Raj Bhavan. 

“The Nagpur Raj Bhavan is much bigger and there are just about ten employees there. The Mumbai Raj Bhavan has over 200 employees. There are staff quarters as well where about 800 people, including family members of the employees, live,” he said. 

The Mumbai Raj Bhavan is spread across 50 acres at sea-front Malabar Hill. The Nagpur Raj Bhavan sprawls over a 94-acre plot and is the biggest of the three Raj Bhavans in Maharashtra located in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. 


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Most employees have now recovered

The first Covid-19 positive case in Raj Bhavan came about three weeks ago. Nearly 30 Raj Bhavan employees stay outside the complex in far-flung Mumbai suburbs and its satellite towns, and have been commuting to work a few days of the week. 

Prashant Gaikwad, Assistant Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai’s D ward administrative unit, which includes the Raj Bhavan premises, said, “Within a few days, we found another case. We identified about 30 high-risk contacts, but later ended up testing 100 employees. Of these, 21 tested positive. Most were asymptomatic. Four others tested positive a few days later, bringing the total number to 25.”

Gaikwad said the Covid-affected employees and their high-risk contacts were either home-quarantined or quarantined in a separate section within Raj Bhavan, and most have now recovered.

“Currently, there are just four active cases. These are all mild symptomatic,” he said. 

The BMC has been regularly sanitising the Raj Bhavan complex, he added.


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