Beed gets new collector

Beed collector Avinash Pathak has been transferred to the fisheries development corporation amid political pressure over his handling of crime and corruption.

MUMBAI: Beed collector Avinash Pathak has been transferred to the state fisheries development corporation as its managing director. While he was appointed the collector of the district in June last year, he was the CEO of Beed Zilla Parishad between August 2023 and June 2024.

Beed gets new collector

Vivek Johnson, who has been the CEO of Chandrapur Zilla Parishad since 2022, will replace Pathak.

The move behind Pathak’s transfer by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, purportedly comes after various political groups’ insistence that existing officers be transferred from the district rife with caste-based conflict for a long span. Insiders have told HT that Pathak had failed to wield an iron hand against criminals, leading to the transfer.

After the brutal killing of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh in December last year, and the unravelling of the nexus between politicians and the mafia thereafter, Fadnavis transferred the SP Avinash Bargal and appointed a young IPS officer Navneet Kanwat in the position.

Social activist Anjali Damania, who has worked on caste-based fights in the district, said: “I had asked the chief minister to transfer Pathak. He had not acted on complaints of corruption against Dhananjay Munde (NCP MLA and former minister) and others. He had also not acted against complaints by MahaGenco, a government body, on the mismanagement in picking up fly ash.”

Responding to the development, Pathak said, “If CM orders, we are bound to obey. After joining IAS, I was in Beed for two years. As an additional collector, I worked in the district for six years. I don’t wish to comment on allegations made by Damania.”