Mumbai / Nagpur: 22 bureaucrats, including the Director-General for Information and Public Relations (DGIPR) Brijesh Singh and the additional commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Pravin Darade, known for their proximity to former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, have been transferred by the Maha Vikas Aghadi Government in a major reshuffle. Singh will continue as the special IG, cybercrime, while Darade will now be the new commissioner for social welfare for Pune. The new DGIPR will be Sindhudurg district collector DD Pandharpatte.
The Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have been strident in demanding the transfers of Singh and Darade, whom the previous BJP-led government pampered. Now that Darade’s posting will be in Pune, he’ll need to vacate the formidable Malabar Hill bungalow. There was a huge controversy in 2014 when he was the new local commissioner after it was assigned to him. His wife Pallavi Darade is the commissioner of food and drugs, Maharashtra.
Sanjay Nirupam, former chief of the Mumbai Congress, alleged that Darade had helped Vidarbha Infotech, an information technology firm, bag the contract for towing vehicles that had breached parking rules in Mumbai. Darade was then the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s additional commissioner and Fadnavis governor. Fadnavis ‘ office had, however, clarified that there was no wrongdoing in awarding Vidarbha Infotech the towing contract.
Sachin Sawant, a spokesman for the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee, had blamed Brijesh Singh for suspected mismanagement in tendering for the television show ‘ Mi Mukhya Mantri Boltoy.’ The office of Fadnavis also denied those charges.
The commissar for goods and service tax, Rajiv Jalota, was transferred as the secretary for rural development. He will replace the incumbent Asim Gupta, who is to be the new secretary of energy. The next GST commissioner will be the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company MD Sanjeev Kumar, the additional IAS official chief secretary-rank. The Free Press Journal in its Sunday edition had broken the story of the MVA’s plans for the reshuffle.
P Velrasu, Maharashtra’s member-secretary Jeevan Pradhikaran, will be Darade’s new additional municipal commissioner instead. Mrs J Mukherjee, managing director of the Maharashtra State Textile Corporation, was named additional chief secretary of the Minority Development Department and will succeed the incumbent, SA Tagde, who will be the new chief secretary of the textile department. The current chief secretary of the textile department KH Govindraj will take over as the additional Metropolitan Development Authority commissioner in Mumbai Metropolitan region.
Managing Director B Venugopal Reddy of the Maharashtra State Small Scale Industries Development Corporation has been appointed as the main secretary, forests, as the post had been vacant since the appointment of Vikas Kharge as the chief secretary in the office of the chief minister.
Sales tax commissioner Shaila A was moved to the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company as its chairman and managing director. Satara district collector Shweta Singhal is now the additional divisional commissioner, Pune, while the commissioner for soil and water conservation, Deepak Singla, will be the new collector of the district of Gadchiroli, replacing Shekhar Singh who will be the new collector of Satara district.
Manju Laxmi, CEO of Sindhudurg Zilla Parishad, will be the new district collector of the same district, while Solapur district collector RB Bhosale has been elected joint MD of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company. Pune Municipal Transport Corporation CMD Nayana Gunde is to become the tribal research and training institute’s new commissioner. Raigad District Collector VN Suryavanshi will replace her.
RS Jagtap, CEO of Bhandara Zilla Parishad, has been moved as the additional Nagpur Divisional Commissioner and will be succeeded by the new CEO of Nashik Zilla Parishad Bhuvaneshwari. Madan Nagargoje was appointed the information technology director.
