Ashwini Bhide is back as Metro 3 boss

Bhide, who is credited with implementing the project rapidly, had been bitterly criticised after the MMRCL felled more than 2,000 trees in the dead of the night at Aarey Milk Colony.

Ashwini Bhide, 52, the bureaucrat who was in the eye of the storm for spearheading construction of the car shed at Aarey for Metro 3, and who had to step down from the position after the MVA government took over, is back with Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRCL)

Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray too had been critical of the decision to fell trees and had proposed a forest status for Aarey (Pratik Chorge/HT Photo)

On Tuesday, she was given additional charge as managing director (MD), MMRCL, which is implementing the Colaba-Seepz Metro-3 project. Bhide will also continue to work as additional commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). She was transferred out of MMRCL in January 2020. One of the first decisions of Uddhav Thackeray’s government had been to shift the Metro car shed project from Aarey to Kanjur Marg. The decision was reversed at their very first meeting after Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis took charge earlier this month. The work on Metro 3 project was delayed after the central government objected to the MVA government’s decision to move the car shed from Aarey to Kanjur Marg.

Bhide, who is credited with implementing the project rapidly, had been bitterly criticised after the MMRCL felled more than 2,000 trees in the dead of the night at Aarey Milk Colony amid strenuous objections from environmentalists.

In other notable bureaucratic transfers, Shrikar Pardeshi, who served variously as deputy secretary in the prime minister office (PMO) and MD of SICOM, was posted as secretary to the deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Bhausaheb Dangade, chief executive officer of Thane Zilla Parishad has been appointed as the new commissioner of Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation.