Maha: Bureaucrat Ashwini Bhide Takes on Role as CM’s Principal Secretary
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Mumbai, Dec 13 (NationPress) Ashwini Bhide, an IAS officer from the class of 1995, has been appointed as the Principal Secretary to the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Bhide is presently the managing director of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation.
According to directives from the general administration department, Bhide will maintain this additional responsibility until further notice.
Her appointment is significant as Fadnavis has urged the state administration to concentrate on enhancing government transparency and expediting the execution of various decisions.
Recently, the state government designated Shrikar Pardeshi, an IAS from the 2001 batch, as the Secretary to the Chief Minister.
Bhide is well-known in bureaucratic and corporate circles as the Metro Woman due to her pivotal role in the execution of the Mumbai Metro 3 project connecting Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ. The Metro 3 line between Aarey Colony and BKC has been opened for traffic ahead of the state assembly elections, with the remaining phase set to be operational in the coming months.
Bhide was removed from her position as managing director of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation and reassigned as the additional municipal commissioner in the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation after the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government took charge in November 2019.
The MVA government had suspended the construction of the Metro 3 project being developed in Aarey Colony, citing the need to protect the forest cover in that area.
As the BMC additional commissioner, Bhide played a crucial role in managing the coronavirus pandemic by implementing various measures. She, along with BMC staff, oversaw the series of decisions made by the state government under the Disaster Management Act to address the crisis.
Following the formation of the Eknath Shinde-led MahaYuti in June 2022, Bhide was once again transferred back to her role as the MD of the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation, tasked with completing the Metro 3 project.
