The major reshuffle by the BMC administration in the last two months has come under fire. At least a dozen of officials have been transferred, while in some cases their orders were reversed within days.
In a recent order, two senior officials were transferred on Friday and then reversed to the same position on Wednesday, said civic sources. Deputy Municipal Commissioner (DMC) Vijay Balamwar of Zone 4 was transferred as DMC (special) in place of Sanjog Kabre. While Kabre was given charge of Zone 4, the order was reversed and the officials were reinstated back to the same position on Wednesday.
This is not the first time that the BMC administration has changed its transfer orders. DMC Sangeeta Hasnale who was in charge of the Solid Waste Department was transferred to Zone-1, but she was brought back to the same department on August 17.
In the last two months the same was done with some assistant municipal commissioners as well. Assistant Commissioner of N ward Sanjay Sonawane was transferred to the City Engineering Department and the order was restored on July 28. Assistant Commissioner Vishwas Mote of M West was given charge of the Assessment and Collection department but his orders were also reversed after some days. Such transfers had upset the officials and it is hampering the civic work in the city, said the civic sources.
"All transfer directions are coming from the state government, but this is creating a bad impression of the BMC. If the civic chief has to reverse transfer orders in a few days then why is he transferring?" asked former Opposition leader and senior Congress leader Ravi Raja.
Meanwhile, Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal denied the allegations and said that all the transfers are as per process. "In the case of the reverse order of Wednesday, we thought it would be best to have an officer like Sanjog Kabre who can handle the major beautification project that BMC has undertaken after the monsoon. We did not want to burden him with other departments, so the remaining charges he held were transferred," said the civic chief.
The BMC began the reshuffle on July 4 with the transfer of Kiran Dighavkar, a close associate of Aaditya Thackeray, from G North ward in Dadar to E ward in Byculla. But on August 12, an order was issued that Dighavkar was again shunted from E ward to P North ward in Malad.
