MUMBAI: Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Wednesday flew down to Nagpur by the state government aircraft. Koshyari, who will put up at the Raj Bhavan in Nagpur, is expected to stay there for around a week, but his return plan has not been announced yet. In the corridors of power, it is believed the spurt in Covid-19 cases in Raj Bhavan prompted the move. However, a senior official denied it. “Koshyari was planning to visit Nagpur since long. However, he had postponed it due to the pandemic-induced lockdown. With the lockdown relaxed, he decided to visit Nagpur for a week,” the official said.
Raj Bhavan went into a tizzy on July 10 when two cases of Covid-19 were detected; one of them was a high- ranking official. BMC then screened all the staff. Of the 100 employees, 25 have tested positive so far. While 20 of them stay at Raj Bhavan, five are from the suburbs. There were reports in a section of the media on the health status of the Governor, following which Koshyari issued a statement, saying he was fine and not in self-isolation.
A senior official said it was found that while several employees reside on the premises of Raj Bhavan, more than 50 come from farflung areas such as Vasai-Virar and the central suburbs. “It is essential to screen them frequently else it will be difficult to halt the spread of Covid-19 in Raj Bhavan. Twenty employees staying in Raj Bhavan have tested positive, while five others staying in the suburbs have tested positive,” a senior BMC official told sources.
The BMC official said as on Wednesday, a total 3,752 Covid-19 cases were registered in D-ward, where Raj Bhavan is housed. Of these, 2,707 patients have been discharged, while there are 886 active cases and the total deaths are 159 so far. “The entire D-ward, including Malabar Hill and Walkeshwar, comprises posh areas. We will have to enhance testing and screening to halt the further growth of Covid-19,’’ the official said.
