Additional municipal commissioner of Pune Rubal Agarwal (IAS: 2008: Maharashtra) is responsible for bringing Covid-19 pandemic under control in the city as she supervises the health department of the Pune Municipal Corporation.

Agarwal, who has a seven-year-old son, starts her day at 6 am with Surya namaskar and her work continues till midnight even at home. She has been putting in at least 14 to 18 hours of work a day since the pandemic broke in India.

As the CEO of Pune Smart City Development Corporation Ltd (PSCDCL) which is responsible for updating figures: Covid-19 positive patients, deaths, and recoveries. It is also responsible for keeping track of surveys conducted among city residents and communicating results to the concerned agencies.

With Pune being one of the prominent hotspots recording 1890 cases till May 4, 2020 the PMC with 15,000 workers is at the forefront of the city’s response. It has established a Command Control War Room at the Smart City office. A lot of emphases placed on data crunching to trace and track areas where COVID-19 cases are emerging from.

With the health department falling under her charge, she regularly reviews staff and contact tracing efforts of positive patients, as well as taking care of quarantined people. She visits hospitals dedicated to Covid-19 with the number of positive cases was increasing in Pune, the number of quarantine facilities and isolation beds was being stepped up. “This is, undoubtedly, the most challenging situation in my career and life; but I am confident we will win this fight against Covid-19,” she said.