CM transfers 22 officials, including two considered close to Fadnavis

MUMBAI: In the first major administrative reshuffle since he took charge as the chief minister (CM) in November, Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday transferred 22 bureaucrats, two of whom held key positions in Devendra Fadnavis’s regime.

Pravin Darade, additional municipal commissioner in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation was transferred to Pune as the social welfare commissioner. He was replaced by P Velrasu, member secretary, Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran. Senior IPS officer Brijesh Singh, spokesperson in the erstwhile Bjp-led government, was removed from the position of director general of information and public relations (DGIPR); he will continue as inspector general, cybercrime. DD Pandharpatte will be the new director general of DGIPR. Darade and Singh were considered close to Fadnavis.

KH Govindraj was appointed as the additional metropolitan commissioner of MMRDA. GST commissioner Rajiv Jalota was transferred to the position of additional chief secretary of rural development, while rural development principal secretary Aseem Gupta was moved to the power department. Sales tax commissioner Shaila A was made the president and managing director of Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited.

MUMBAI: To improve its image among citizens, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) last week assigned one official for every civic ward to visit the prime theatres under their jurisdiction and take feedback from moviegoers on the civic body’s five short films screened before the commencement of a movie.

The officials have been asked to record the moviegoers’ opinions about BMC’S services and if the short films have helped in creating awareness about the civic body, or if they know the work done by the corporation.

Speaking on the initiative, municipal commissioner Praveen Pardeshi said, “The purpose behind the task is to help civic officials improve their service delivery through citizens’ feedback. This also helps us in delivering our message and creating awareness on civic issues, such as littering, illegal water connections and sustainable solid waste disposal.”

Last month, the civic body had approached several theatre franchises to screen its informative films, ranging from two-three minutes, on the water department, solid waste management department and education department, in a bid to help create awareness among the masses about the civic body’s work. The BMC does not incur any expenditure for screening the short films, as they are being shown under the theatres’ quota of government’s informative advertisements.