Mumbai: Tukaram Mundhe, a no-nonsense officer, who was sidelined by the Devendra Fadnavis government, has now been appointed as the commissioner of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation.
The Uddhav Thackeray government has played a masterstroke by appointing Mundhe as NMC commissioner, as the corporation is being ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party and Nagpur is known as BJP's stronghold. NMC's next election is scheduled to be held in 2022 along with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Devendra Fadnavis and Nitin Gadkari are key leaders in Nagpur, who are active in state- and national-level politics. The RSS headquarters is also in Nagpur.
Mundhe was posted as the project director at Maharashtra State AIDS Control Society after the reshuffle of IAS officers by the General Administration Department (GAD) in December 2018, which was his 13th transfer in his 13 year of service as an IAS officer.
Belonging to the 2005 batch of IAS officers, he is known for his no-nonsense attitude and has often clashed with public representatives in his previous postings. In February, 2018, Mundhe took charge of the Nashik Municipal Corporation. Because of his work against illegal activities, Mundhe got tremendous public support.
He started morning walks and established direct connect with the people. He addressed their grievances. NMC was then ruled by the BJP and Mundhe was shunted to side postings. "Orange City Water Private Limited was favoured unduly by the BJP-ruled NMC, which violated the agreement.
This company was entrusted to complete the task of providing water 24 by 7 in five years. OCW benefitted by Rs 200 crores because of the BJP, which didn't levy a penalty against it. We hope Mundhe will take action against this corruption," Prafull Gudhade Patil, senior leader of the Congress and senior corporator said, while welcoming this appointment.
