Metro woman is front-runner for the position of BMC chief

Bhide will become the first woman IAS officer to make it to the position, when she takes over from the current civic chief Bhushan Gagrani, who retires on Tuesday

MUMBAI: Ashwini Bhide, 55, an IAS officer of 1995 batch, widely known as the ‘Metro Woman of Mumbai’ for spearheading the Aqua Line (Metro 3) and navigating challenges of land acquisition and resettling project affected people, has emerged as the front-runner for the post of commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Commissioner (BMC), the country’s richest civic body.

Ashwini Bhide (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

Bhide will become the first woman IAS officer to make it to the position, when she takes over from the current civic chief Bhushan Gagrani, who retires on Tuesday. Bhide, is currently the additional chief secretary at the chief minister’s office (CMO). All eyes are on this appointment as it follows the elections to Mumbai civic house after four years, where BJP came into power for the first time with help from Shiv Sena.

Other contenders for the post are IAS officers -- additional chief secretary Aseem Gupta, who heads the urban development department (UDD) and housing; Vikas Kharge, head of revenue department and Milind Mhaiskar, head of public works department (PWD).

On Monday, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde met to decide who Gagrani’s successor will be, following which Bhide met Shinde separately, said people aware of the matter from Shinde’s office. BMC comes under the jurisdiction of UDD, which Shinde heads. It is believed, while Fadnavis is keen on Bhide’s appointment, Shinde is reportedly backing Gupta.

Bhide came into the limelight for spearheading the completion of the Mumbai Metro 3 or the Aqua Line -- the city’s first underground metro connecting Colaba with Seepz -- despite many odds, one of them being digging a tunnel through areas that have century old buildings.

The proposal to build Metro 3’s car shed in Aarey Colony was met with strong opposition by environmentalists, as Aarey falls on the periphery Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The proposal was stayed by the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government. At the time, BJP had alleged that Thackeray was opposing the move as Metro 3 was a flagship project of Devendra Fadnavis. Shiv Sena (undivided) however argued that the party’s pushback was to protect the trees which were poised to be axed for the car shed.

Subsequently, soon after he became deputy CM following the change in the government in 2022, Fadnavis lifted the stay and the project was put back on track. Soon, Fadnavis brought Bhide back as the chief of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC). An officer with a clean image, Bhide was made in-charge of the CMO when Fadnavis returned as the chief minister in 2024.

Apart from handling the CMO, she continues to head the MMRC, which is now completing the Gateway-Wadala metro.

Bhide began her career in Kolhapur and was CEO of Nagpur and Sindhudurg zilla parishads. She has also worked at the Raj Bhavan and was additional commissioner of MMRDA for five years. She has also worked as additional commissioner in BMC.

Meanwhile, Gupta, who is being backed by Shinde, earlier held the position of commissioner of Thane, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and Nagpur, as also the additional commissioner of BMC.