Senior IAS officer Gagrani takes charge as new Mumbai civic commissioner from Chahal

Senior IAS officer Bhushan Gagrani on Wednesday evening took charge as the new Mumbai municipal commissioner and administrator, hours after he was appointed to the post by the Maharashtra government on the Election Commission (EC)'s directive.

IAS officer Iqbal Singh Chahal said he has handed over the charge of municipal commissioner and administrator of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to his successor Gagrani.

His transfer came after the EC directed the Maharashtra government to appoint Gagrani as the new Mumbai municipal commissioner.

Gagrani was till now serving as additional chief secretary in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

''I wish to share that I have just handed over the charge of municipal commissioner and administrator, BMC, to my colleague Dr Bhushan Gagrani today,'' Chahal said.

The senior bureaucrat thanked the state government for providing him an opportunity to work as the Mumbai civic chief.

''I express my deep and sincere gratitude and gratefulness to the Government of Maharashtra for providing me an opportunity to work as municipal commissioner, BMC, for almost 4 years term which included 2 years of fight against COVID Pandemic followed by nearly 2 years of working as MC and Administrator of BMC,'' Chahal said.

He said the government ''blessed'' him with a unique opportunity to serve the citizens of Mumbai ''which I have tried doing so to my level best''.

''I feel happy today that I could contribute my small bit to serve the respected citizens our glorious and great city of Mumbai to the best of my abilities,'' Chahal added.

Earlier this week, the EC asked the state chief secretary to immediately transfer Chahal, all municipal commissioners, additional/deputy municipal commissioners who have served more than three years in their present assignment and posted in their home district. The poll panel had sought a compliance report by 5 pm on March 19.

Maharashtra, which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, will vote in five phases in April-May. A 1989-batch IAS officer, Chahal was the chief of Asia's richest civic body during COVID-19. He received praise for his work during the pandemic and was considered close to former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray when he helmed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government from November 2019 to June 2022.

However, after the collapse of the MVA government, Thackeray and his party Shiv Sena (UBT) accused him of financial irregularities while awarding contracts and warned of action after they came to power.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)