E-Paper
State transfers Pune municipal commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad
Gaikwad was appointed as municipal commissioner in January 2020 and served for hardly six months. Officials on condition of anonymity claim that the sudden transfer is because of his opposition to lockdown
In a major reshuffle, the Maharashtra government on Saturday transferred the Pune Municipal commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad as sugar commissioner. Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) metropolitian commissioner Vikram Kumar replaces Gaikwad as the new municipal commissioner.
Vikam Kumar said, “Pune municipal commissioner is a challenging post. I will try to take stakeholders into confidence and sort out the issues. My first priority to bring down Covid-19 cases in the city. I will take charge either tomorrow or Monday.”
Gaikwad was appointed as municipal commissioner in January 2020 and served for hardly six months. Officials on condition of anonymity claim that the sudden transfer is because of his opposition to lockdown.
Before the state and central government’s official announcement, he was in favour of unlocking the city.
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in a meeting called on Friday to review the Covid-19 situation in Pune had taken the decision for 10-day lockdown beginning Julu 13. Gaikwad expressed his views about not introducing the lockdown at the meet.
After joining as municipal commissioner, Gaikwad took a different stand on Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) terming as not useful and asked for the project’s review.
As part of the Covid prevention measure, he acquired many private hospitals and created Covid care centers in the city. He scaled up the bed capacity up to 18,000 in the city during the last three months.
Both Kumar and Gaikwad could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
Vikram Kumar was appointed as a Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority (PMRDA) metropolitan commissioner in March 2019.
A 2004 batch IAS officer, Kumar before joining as PMRDA metropolitan commissioner, was chief executive officer of Maharashtra Maritime Board.
As per the instructions by Ajit Pawar, almost 12 IAS officers were working under Gaikwad for handling the Covid-19 situation. Many senior IAS officers who earlier served as municipal commissioner were also appointed to help the Gaikwad.
Gaikwad shifted to the official PMC bungalow a week before and now again need to vacate it. Gaikwad shifted after the previous municipal commissioner Saurabh Rao vacated the place. Before joining as municipal commissioner, Gaikwad was posted as sugar commissioner.
