Iqbal Singh Chahal | |
---|---|
Nationality | Indian |
Citizenship | Indian |
Occupation | Additional Chief Secretary |
Organization | Government of Maharashtra |
Notable work | COVID-19 Management in Mumbai |
Iqbal Singh Chahal is a 1989 batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre.[1][2] He is the former Municipal Commissioner and Administrator of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)[3][4][5] and is currently an Additional Chief Secretary in the Maharashtra Chief Minister's office.[6] Prior to this, Chahal has served Government of Maharashtra and India in various capacities. In his initial career he was collector of Thane and Aurangabad districts,[1] later on he was Joint Secretary in Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Women & Child Development and Ministry of Panchayati Raj.[1] Following that he was also Principal Secretary in Water Resources Department and Urban Development Department of Maharashtra.[1]
Chahal is widely given the credit for keeping COVID-19 under check in Mumbai.[7][8][9] Supreme Court of India and High Court of Bombay also lauded Chahal for his Mumbai Model.[10][11][12][13]
He added thousands of beds through new field hospitals, and private facilities handed over their COVID-19 wards to the government with 800 vehicles being turned into ambulances. A proactive approach was used to focus on 55 slums including, Dharavi, where a strict lock-down was accompanied by aggressive sanitation of public toilets, mass coronavirus screening and a huge volunteer effort to ensure that nobody went hungry. All positive test reports in Mumbai were routed through "war rooms".[14]
He received Newsmakers Achievers Awards in 2021.[15]