Amid sudden spike in COVID-19 cases in Bengaluru, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner Anil Kumar was transferred on July 18 and replaced by Manjunath Prasad who was the Principal Secretary of Revenue Department and former BBMP commissioner.
Anil Kumar was appointed as BBMP Commissioner in August 2019 replacing Manjunath Prasad.
Kumar has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary in the Department of Public Enterprises.
Anil Kumar had contradicted Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s contention that the lockdown should not be extended in the city. CM BS Yediyurappa was disappointed with Kumar about corruption allegations made against BBMP officials while tackling the COVID-19 crisis, The News Minute reported.
Manjunath was transferred out of his post in May 2018 after an order passed by the Election Commission of India (ECI). He was then replaced by Anil Kumar in 2019.
During the COVID-19 crisis, Manjunath Prasad was appointed as the nodal officer for interstate travel from Karnataka and was tasked with managing the migrant exodus.
He was slammed for his decision to suspend trains for migrant workers on May 5.
The decision however was later reversed on May 7 after thousands of migrant workers decided to walk back to their native states.
A sharp spike in COVID-19 cases were reported in Bengaluru in the end of June. Two weeks later, a fresh lockdown was imposed in the city from July 14 to 22. There are currently 6,010 containment zones in Bengaluru after BBMP added 412 new containment zones on July 17.
Bengaluru is currently struggling with 20,623 active COVID-19 cases and has reported 582 COVID-19 deaths so far.
