MCDS offer ‘all help’ to Delhi govt at HM meet

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday held a meeting with top functionaries of Delhi’s three municipal bodies along with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to take stock of the COVID-19 situation in the national Capital.

This was the second highlevel meeting held during the day in the wake of rising cases of the novel Coronavirus. The first meeting Shah took was with Baijal, Kejriwal, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, and senior officials of the Union Home and Health Ministries and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority.

The key objectives of the second meeting were to review the steps taken by the municipal bodies and how to check the further spread of the virus, a government official said.

East Delhi Mayor Anju

Kamalkant on Sunday said that the Centre, Delhi government and municipal corporations are working together to offer healthcare facilities as needed in this hour of crisis.

The North Municipal Corporation Mayor Avtar Singh suggested that post the break-up of MCD into three parts, places such as Town Hall, Chandni Chowk, Kashmiri Gate office, old Hindu college and a number of school halls were left unused. These spaces could be used as quarantine centres. He added that the administrative and health-related charge of the Mcd-owned properties turned into quarantine centres should be given to the MCD only.

All three municipalities employ a huge number of doctors, nurses, pharmacists, ward-boys, paramedical staff. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Kamalkant said, “We have always been preparing ourselves anticipating the situation.”