Bhushan Gagrani appointed new BMC commissioner

The government had to transfer several municipal commissioners and additional commissioners in the state on the orders of the ECI. It was reluctant to transfer BMC commissioner I S Chahal but was compelled to do so following directives from the ECI, which did not want to exempt any officers from its three-year tenure rule

MUMBAI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday cleared the appointment of Bhushan Gagrani as municipal commissioner of Mumbai. Gagrani is an IAS officer of the 1990 batch and was heading the chief minister’s secretariat.

I S Chahal handing over charges to newly appointed Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani at the BMC office on Wednesday. (Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

Commissioner of cooperation Saurabh Rao has been appointed municipal commissioner of Thane while CIDCO’s joint managing director Kailash Shinde is now the Navi Mumbai municipal corporation commissioner.

The government had to transfer several municipal commissioners and additional commissioners in the state on the orders of the ECI. It was reluctant to transfer BMC commissioner I S Chahal but was compelled to do so following directives from the ECI, which did not want to exempt any officers from its three-year tenure rule.

The ECI had asked for removal of all municipal commissioners, additional municipal commissioners and deputy municipal commissioners who had completed more than three years or officers who had done more than four years in a district or officers who were posted in their home district. While the ECI maintained that they were all connected to the poll process, in previous elections, municipal commissioners were not covered under the ECI’s transfer policy.

As instructed by the ECI, the state government had sent three IAS officers’ names for the BMC commissioner’s post: Gagrani, BEST general manager Anil Diggikar and MMRDA commissioner Dr Sanjay Mukherjee. In a meeting on Wednesday, the ECI cleared Gagrani’s appointment. He took over from Chahal on Wednesday evening.

Gagrani recalled how he had visited the BMC some time ago and Chahal had told him that he would take over the commissioner’s post someday. “I feel those words have come true,” said Gagrani. He said he wished to build upon Chahal’s efforts during the Covid epidemic and the work done for the city post-pandemic.

Outgoing commissioner Chahal expressed his “deep and sincere gratitude” to the state government for giving him an opportunity to work as BMC commissioner for almost four years. “These included a two-year fight against the Covid-19 pandemic followed by nearly two years of working as commissioner and administrator,” he said. “I feel happy that I could do my bit to serve the citizens of Mumbai to the best of my ability.”

On Wednesday, Thane municipal commissioner Abhijit Bangar also took over as additional municipal commissioner (projects) in place of P Velrasu and Amit Saini took charge as additional commissioner in place of Ashwini Bhide. Velrasu was to be appointed as commissioner of Navi Mumbai but the ECI chose Kailash Shinde. Chahal’s posting will be decided later but he may be posted in Gagrani’s earlier position.

Meanwhile, Panvel municipal corporation commissioner Ganesh Deshmukh has also been transferred on the ECI’s directions.