Mumbai: Ajoy Mehta was appointed as municipal commissioner of BMC in April 2015. Since then, the city has witnessed multiple disasters, including the recent footoverbridge (FOB) mishap outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT), which killed six and injured 31 people.
However, even after such a tragic incident, the municipal commissioner swung into action only after the CM directed that names of concerned officers be submitted by Friday morning. Even 24 hours after the incident, the municipal commissioner had not visited the mishap site, even though it is not more than 500 metres from his office.
He has not had any official media interaction either. Throughout the day, he was seen dodging the media. This reporter even tried to reach his office on the second floor of the BMC headquarters, however the floor was cordoned off by police and the reporter was not allowed to enter.
This is an unusual practice as BMC reporters are usually allowed on the floor as it also has the improvements committee hall and the office of the chairman of improvements committee. Congress Corporator and leader of opposition Ravi Raja said, “This shows the callous behaviour of the commissioner, which has percolated down to all officials of the civic body.”