OFF THE RECORD review on IAS transfers
1. Vijay Singhal rocks SWM.
Solid Waste Management is synonymous with corruption, blacklisting of contractors, dominance of Gadkari’s man from Delhi (some Gulab Singh from Metro West) and the infamous ruler of this department contractor- Anthony. While the DMC “Balaam Pyare” was shunted out to Zone 1 as DMC an equally good officer (Shankarwar) has taken the role of Deputy Municipal Commissioner -SWM at the BMC. The contractors who were picking up debris in the name of waste and made some bucks have finally given in to the pressure and no-corruption will be tolerated attitude of only one man Additional Municipal Commissioner for eastern suburbs-Mr. Vijay Singhal. In literal sense, the blue eyed boy of MC Ajoy Mehta, Singhal has received tremendous support from the MC, and both of them have not only punished the guilty but also managed to answer the gossip mongers by protecting the contractors who were made scapegoats months ago. By scrapping all the previous terms & conditions, today Singhal has issued 6 new tenders Zone wise and he is confident that now this department will run with extreme ease. By fighting with the contractor lobby he has also managed to root out corrupt ones and managed to save 1000 kgs of debris the contractors made money from. In literal sense Singhal will save some crores of rupees of the Corporation that went in waste! Kudos to Vijay Singhal!!
Major transfers in Maharashtra Bureaucracy took place this week. Few conclusions I could draw from them.
1. Those who go to Buldhana end up getting MSRDC. This time it is Dr Chandrakant Pulkundwar and last time it was K.V. Kurundkar (recently posted at Mantralaya). Now that Nirupama Dange is there at Buldhana as collector, her next posting will be at MSRDC, am assuming. But finally officers like Pulkundwar get justice. His batchmates by blackmailing Ministers had already moved to Mumbai and surrounding areas but Pulkundwar served his term at Washim & Buldhana. CM’s way to tighten grip over MSRDC. I have know Pulkundwar since his PS days at Minister Suresh Shetty. Very efficient and no-nonsense officer. Hope MSRDC does not spoil him.
2. What should I say about Sampada Mehta & Sunil Chavan. Both have ‘managed’ to get their transfers cancelled next day of the orders issued. Sampada Mehta in her entire tenure of Collector-Greater Mumbai wasn’t impressive. The ‘noise’ that Dr. Ashiwini Joshi made whilst her tenure as Collector, Mehta couldn’t even do it 1%. Ashwini Joshi currently Excise Commissioner sits one floor above Mehta at the Old Custom House. As per my sources in the entire tenure as Collector, Mehta did climb that floor once only to say “hello” to Joshi. What I know of Joshi, she would have been more than co-operative to give Mehta all the clubs history. But it was Mehta who did not want want her superiors to rub the wrong way as many of them are members of these high flying clubs. Must say, after Joshi went, and the docile Mehta came in, someone at a higher post in Revenue Department must have surely heaved a sigh of relief. Lets see how Jondhale performs now, will he carry on the work Joshi left or will he be another Mehta?
Sunil Chavan–haha– If currently you ask me which bureaucrats rule the roaster in Mantralaya–I would name it to the Thane team. All of them have super hold-The Collector, the Municipal Commissioner & the Police Commissioner– Sunil Chavan is an Additional Commissioner at the Thane Municipal Corporation. His boss is Sanjeev Jaiswal, the Commissioner–frankly I have failed to judge Jaiswal now. If he is non-corrupt and works by ethics, (at least thats what is portrayed) NO 1 thing Jaiswal should have done is–he should have shunted people like Chavan long ago. Jaiswal does share that kind of rapport with the CMO & with the CM himself— for him to dictate terms who will be with him and who won’t, is not a problem . But the fact that Chavan got transferred to Aurangabad and got his order cancelled next day, has definitely had me thinking now on the intentions. If we have Gharat in KDMC who is known to carry his chair to his grave, for Thane it will be Sunil Chavan. For so many years these people are at the same posts…How & Why? No activist, journalist have the ba**s to write against such officers. God knows why? IS the Maratha card taken too seriously these days friends?
Now on to Dr. Sudhakar Shinde–Wasn’t it decided behind closed doors that all Corporations henceforth will be headed only by the IAS? Then how come Ganesh Deshmukh got the post of Panvel Commissioner–CMO? OK…he is the Chief Officer cadre and what I hear he has done tremendous good work at Kolhapur & Sangli & CM was very impressed with him. But sir, rules are rules nah !!OK, now some are calling it CM’s best move to suspend the No confidence motion passed against Shinde on the 12th April and to transfer him on the 13th the next day, but at the same time some are saying CM was worried about the Thakur’s from Panvel and that racketeer Guardian Minister Ravindra Chavan. If Sudhakar Shinde had to be shunted than why was the motion suspended. If the motion was suspended, then why the transfer? Heard it was a way to thank Prashant thakur for getting the corporation in BJP’s control and giving a free hand to the Minister. Heard very soon CIDCO will be given to Thakur as well!!
Shekar Channe & Saurav Rao were expected to be retained with good postings as the news of their postings was doing rounds since months now and appointment of Sachin Kurve as Collector Mumbai was the master stroke. CM has not touched the BMC, as it is in the best hands under able guidance of Ajoy Mehta. But now all eyes on the CS posting. DK Jain will be crowned the new prince of state bureaucracy very soon but I know who is eyeing for the post of Jain when he retires later this year. Another round of transfers (now the bigger ones ) will take place once Mullick retires month end. But my thoughts for CMO’s Rajesh Narvekar. He will have to do Collector ship. If he was given Bandra or Greater Mumbai now he would have come back to the CMO say after 6-9 months just before code of conduct sets in. But now another 6 months or 1 year the new Collectors won’t be transferred. So if at all there is new Government or new CM of same party, where will he be given remains the question.
In all, transfers of bureaucracy is no longer dependant on how ethical you are– be it any government. it strictly depends on which subject was handled by you & how it was dealt? You can be like that corrupt & bogus Chavan or you can be a Ajoy Mehta or a Sumit Mullick. Not that Mehta & Mullick don’t get pressure or offers, it is the way they handle the matter and saying NO also has elegance. It does not leave a bad taste in anyone’s mouth. Whereas if you are a Chavan you will say yes to everything and at times even stoop to a level for getting your work done. Then people like Chavan don’t get bad mouthed-they are used to it for years now–the image of their boss falls.
Vikrant Joshi
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