Thane, Navi Mumbai civic bodies get new commissioners

Abhijit Bangar takes over as new commissioner of Thane Municipal Corporation while Rajesh Narvekar is the new commissioner of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation

Easing the traffic congestion in Thane city will be the prime focus, said Abhijit Bangar, who took charge as the Thane Municipal Corporation commissioner on Friday.

Thane Municipal Corporation’s new commissioner, Abhijit Bangar (left), is greeted by outgoing TMC chief Vipin Sharma in Thane on Friday. (PRAFUL GANGURDE/HT PHOTO)

He added that the bottlenecks in the city would be identified and step-by-step measures would be taken to ease these bottlenecks.

Bangar, a 2008 batch IAS officer, was Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation from July 2020. He took charge of Thane Municipal Corporation from Vipin Sharma, who served as the Thane civic chief for two years since the start of the pandemic.

Since the last few weeks, Thane has been grappling with the issues of bad roads and traffic congestion.

Addressing mediapersons on the various issues, Bangar said, “The issue of traffic is prevalent in Thane and its nearby cities. We have to study the main bottlenecks in the city and work on finding step-by-step measures to these bottlenecks. Another option is to strengthen the public transport in the city, or to find routes that will help in easing congestion. The city is set to get more electric buses. Thus, we will start more charging stations across the city.”

Bangar added that a review of the illegal constructions in the city would be done. He informed that there will be experiments to increase the green cover in the city. Small urban forests would be developed in various pockets in the city while more indigenous trees would be planted.

He said that every city had its challenges and his job would be to identify those faced by the Thane residents.

“The chance to work in Thane city is both an opportunity and a challenge for me. Thane is an old city and has developed organically; the residents in the city have always supported development and also been a part of it.”

OUTGOING THANE COLLECTOR IS NEW NMMC CHIEF

Rajesh Narvekar, who was Thane Collector for over four years, on Friday, took over as the commissioner of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC). He intended to give importance to health and education along with the development of the city.

“NMMC is one of the best corporations in Thane district due to its better health facilities. As a Collector of Thane district, I have seen the work in NMMC closely and now I will look at improving it,” told the media.

Narvekar would make himself approachable to the common public as he thinks that the real problems of the city could be known only from the public.

“Conversations with the public, knowing their issues and opinions, and implementing them will also be looked into,” he added.

Narvekar said that as a Collector, his job was more regulatory while as a commissioner, it will be about development.

“Collector’s post is more of a traditional post existing right from the British era. The Commissioner’s work would be more of working for the public,” Narvekar said.

Asked if he would continue with the projects and schemes introduced by the previous commissioner, he said that nothing would be stopped just because it was started by the previous commissioner. Changes could be made only if required.

“I have a close connection with Navi Mumbai as I have stayed here during my first posting in Mumbai. Not only State-wide but also Nation-wide, the NMMC has garnered a lot of appreciation and I feel extremely glad to be posted here,” Narvekar said.