Chandrapur collector and civic chief appear before HC in Covid-19 PIL

Nagpur: As per the directives issued last week, both Chandrapur district collector and civic chief were present before the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Monday for a hearing on a PIL related to Covid preparedness. In the last hearing, the court had expressed unhappiness over the reply it received from Chandrapur Municipal Corporation, apart from not having received any reply from the collector’s office.
This PIL had been filed by former MP Naresh Puglia in which he alleged that the administration in Chandrapur was not prepared to handle Covid-19 pandemic, and the infrastructure was not up to the desired level.
Advocate Shreerang Bhandarkar, who represented the petitioner, said, “The next hearing has been kept for January. Chandrapur district and civic authorities have to file a reply about how they will take care of the lacunae highlighted in the PIL.”
In the first week of October, the HC had asked both Chandrapur collector and civic chief to file a reply. Though the reply from the civic body came, it was signed by the deputy municipal commissioner (DMC). Later, it came to fore that even the Chandrapur DMC was not authorized to reply on behalf of the civic body. That reply too, the court had said, did not have all the required details.
Apart from this, the court was irked with not having received any reply from the district collector. Hence, it asked both the collector and the civic chief to be present before the court.
The petition had talked about poor infrastructure in government hospitals and how it was leading in mortality rates. The lack of oxygenated beds and other medical facilities for Covid-19 patients was also highlighted in the PIL.