With Chennai becoming the epicentre of COVID-19 cases in Tamil Nadu, senior bureaucrat Dr. J. Radhakrishnan has been appointed as the Special Nodal Officer by the state government to coordinate the efforts against the pandemic. He will be assisted by 5 senior IPS officers.
Chief Secretary K Shanmugam released a government order regarding the same that read “The Government appoints Dr J Radhakrishnan, IAS, Principal Secretary / Commissioner, Revenue Administration, Disaster Management and Mitigation, Chennai as Special Nodal Officer for the Greater Chennai Corporation to co-ordinate the COVID-19 related issues with the Commissioner of GCC and other Teams constituted for the specific purpose of containing the spread of the disease further in Chennai District and to ensure effective implementation of various guidelines issued by the Government.”
Chennai on Friday reported a staggering 176 new cases of the Wuhan virus taking the total cases in the city to 1082 with 843 of them being active.
A 1992 batch IAS officer, Dr. Radhakrishnan is currently serving as Principal Secretary and Commissioner for Revenue Administration, Disaster Management and Mitigation. Known for his work during the 2004 Tsunami and the Kumbakonam school fire accident that happened in June the same year, Dr. Radhakrishnan has become the face of disaster management in the state. In November last year during Diwali, he was coordinating the rescue of the child Sujith Wilson who had fallen into a borewell and met with an unfortunate end.