Mumbai: Two additional commissioners of BMC transferred

Representation Pic

Two additional commissioners of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) have been transferred following an Election Commission order. The transferred officials are P Velrasu, who holds charge of projects and Ashwini Bhide, who holds charge of eastern suburbs and other departments.

Thane Municipal Commissioner Abhijit Bangar (2008 batch) has been appointed in place of Velrasu (2002 batch). Bhide (1995 batch) has been replaced by Amit Sainik (2007 batch). Bhide will hold full-time charge as managing director of Mumbai Metro Railway Corporation. On Monday, the Election Commission (EC) ordered the State Chief Secretary to transfer Civic Chief I S Chahal along with these two additional commissioners who complete their three-year tenure in the post and submit the report till Tuesday evening.

However, there is no clarity about the transfer of the civic chief till press time. In a letter to the chief secretary of Maharashtra, the EC secretary mentioned that it was conveyed that no officer directly involved in elections should continue in their present district of position if they are posted in their home district or have completed three years in that district on or before June 30, 2024.

Chahal was BMC chief for 4 yrs

Chahal joined the BMC in May 2020 and will complete four years. Additional Commissioner P Velarasu joined the BMC in January 2020, while Ashwini Bhide joined the corporation in May 2020 amid a task force for COVID-19. This is the first time in the history of the BMC that two additional commissioners were transferred after an election commission order in a single day.