Mayor tests -ve, but ignores rules

Mayor Bonthu Rammohan passed the

Covid-19 test, according to an interim report. He had a cup of tea at a tiffin centre on June 2, whose owner had tested positive on June 2.

Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) authorities maintained that the owner was not coming to the shop for 10 days prior to the Mayor’s visit but locals said that he had visited the previous day.

However, the Mayor is in violation of Covid-19 protocols. As per norms, he have been kept in an isolation ward until the test results were out. If tested negative, authorities should stamp him with the home quarantine seal and he should be quarantined for 14 days.

But he attended the last standing committee meeting with the corporation’s heads of departments and elected representatives on Saturday.

On June 2, apart from participating in the Formation Day celebrations at the GHMC headquarters and Pragathi Bhavan, the Mayor participated in intensive sanitation drives, inspected developmental activities and chaired the standing committee meeting.

In the process, he had interacted with numerous elected representatives, top bureaucrats, HoDs in GHMC and journalists. Despite not showing symptoms, Rammohan gave his samples at Osmania Medical College at about

1.30 pm on Friday. By late Saturday he had tested negative, according

to the interim report.

Later on Sunday, the GHMC released a statement saying that Rammohan had undertaken the test on the request of his well-wishers.

There is confusion about when the tea stall owner last went to the shop. The GHMC said it was 10 days, Rammohan on Twitter said it was 12 days and Covid-19 officials said four days.

Health department officials said that Rammohan had violated

Covid-19 protocols, mandated by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), by not staying in isolation ahead of the test, and not going into

14-day quarantine after the test.