Due to the growing number of COVID-19 cases, the Madhya Pradesh government transferred Khandwa district collector Tanvi Sundriyal (IAS: 2010: MP) and superintendent of police Siv Dayal (IPS: 2012:MP). Actually this was done a day after the small border town with Maharashtra saw 90 new Covid-19 patients in 24 hours.

Sundriyal was replaced with another 2010-batch IAS officer Anay Dwivedi(IAS: 2010: MP) and was posted as a deputy secretary in the state secretariat. Dayal, was replaced by commander of Special Armed Force’s 7th battalion Vivek Singh (IPS: 2012:MP). Dayal will be the new commander of the battalion.

The government seems clueless and shifting officers when on May 4, collector of Ujjain Shashank Mishra and on May 7, SP Sachin Atulkar were shifted when the city became a Covid-19 hotspot with the death rate being highest among big cities.

Indore saw a similar situation earlier when its collector Lokesh Jatav was shifted and replaced with Manish Singh on March 28. Three days later, Indore police chief deputy inspector general (DIG) of police Ruchivardhan Mishra was shifted to a smaller district in the region. However, when Indore collector was shifted, the city had not become a Covid-19 hotspot but virus was spreading fast in certain localities.