Iqbal Singh Chahal, who led BMC’s Covid fight, awarded honorary degree by Thapar Institute, Patiala

Tribune News Service

Patiala, November 8

Having turned Mumbai from a city facing Covid-19 threat to the most efficient in tackling the virus, Brihanmumbai MC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal today said complete political support, collective efforts and democratic functioning helped pull the city out of Covid-19 grasp.

Chahal was felicitated by the Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology with a honorary degree of Doctor of Science on Monday for his “exceptional work” in the fight against the pandemic.

Chahal now has a target of achieving 100 per cent vaccination in Mumbai by December. Chahal said, “When I was posted as the Commissioner, the death rate had risen to 8 per cent. We enforced new strategy and brought down the rate to 0.8 per cent.”

“We divided the city into 28 self-sufficient sectors each having testing labs, hospitals and necessary facilities. These were monitored from a main centre,” he said, adding that the city launched a campaign — “Chase the virus.”

“With help of DCs and health workers, we started testing residents of slums and other areas. We moved over 25,000 people for testing in a week,” he said.

The institute awarded 2,319 degrees today. Chairman of board of governors Rajeev Vederah said it would now increase student strength from 11,000 to 15,000.