Mamata gets second office amid Covid concerns

August 12, 2020 18:18

With West Bengal registering a sharp spike in Covid-19 cases and the virus taking a toll at Nabanna the 14-storey building which houses the state secretariat - chief minister Mamata Banerjee will get a second office at an adjacent building named Upanna.

The three-storey annexe building will not just house the second office of the chief minister, but also the offices for the chief secretary and home secretary. Banerjee had inaugurated the building on July 22 and is likely to start using the new office from this month, senior officials said.

More than a dozen employees, including police personnel posted at Nabanna, have already tested positive for Covid-19 and many employees had to be sent on home quarantine. The entire high-rise has to be shut down regularly for sanitisation, said a senior official.

The Nabanna would remain closed for sanitisation on August 13 and 14. Earlier it was closed on August 3 and 4 for sanitisation.

It was in mid-March that the Covid-scare gripped the Nabanna building for the first time when a bureaucrat, whose son had tested positive, attended office and held meetings. The state home secretary had to stay in home quarantine and Banerjee was seemingly peeved with the bureaucrat.

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