Tukaram Mundhe was last week sent as Nashik’s municipal commissioner. He has earned plaudits from CM Fadnavis for good governance, but also faced his ire.
Mumbai: Speaking to students at Mumbai’s Sardar Patel Engineering College last year, Maharashtra IAS officer Tukaram Mundhe said he goes home every day knowing he has done something worthwhile for lakhs of people.
“I have had the fortune of working for people across Maharashtra, Nagpur to Mumbai. Because I get transferred every year,” the 42-year-old officer said, prompting a round of laughter from the audience.
While Mundhe chooses to see the situation in a lighter vein, nearly all 13 years of his administrative career have been marked with friction with politicians across parties and colleagues in government. The officer, known for being honest, upright and a hard taskmaster, has been transferred eleven times since he entered service in 2005.
The latest transfer order came Thursday, shunting him out as head of the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML), which manages Pune’s public transport, to the post of municipal commissioner of Nashik.
‘An honest but high-handed man’
In just ten months at PMPML, Mundhe shook the organisation with a number of aggressive, unpopular decisions, starting from a fare hike in bus pass rates for senior citizens, to contentious moves for disciplining staff and contractors. He sacked 158 drivers on contract over their poor attendance record and let go of employees, even those at a senior level, for failing to reduce the number of bus breakdowns, rattling workers’ unions.
Seema Savale, a BJP corporator in Pimpri Chinchwad and a PMPML board member, said: “Mundhe is a 100 per cent honest bureaucrat. He is not corrupt at all. But he causes more harm to the system and to people with his arrogance and his tendency to take unilateral decisions than any other officer can cause by being corrupt,” Savale said.
She added that Mundhe did not respect public representatives. “If he didn’t agree with something during a board meeting, he would just get up and say he did not want to sit anymore. He is an excellent officer, but just needs to change his style of functioning in order to be an effective one,” Savale said, adding that she was among the many politicians who wrote to CM Devendra Fadnavis regarding their grouses with Mundhe.
While leaving PMPML, Mundhe told mediapersons he did his best to reform the organisation and even succeeded, and that he sees his transfer as the Nashik Municipal Commissioner as a bigger opportunity.
Most controversial stint
One of Mundhe’s most controversial stints in recent years was as the Navi Mumbai Municipal Commissioner from May 2016 to March 2017, when the general body of the municipal corporation passed a no-confidence motion against him.
Corporators from across political parties, excluding the BJP, joined hands to vote for Mundhe’s dismissal, saying he was disrespectful to elected representatives and took arbitrary decisions.
Through his tenure, Mundhe suspended employees for dereliction of duty, fined establishments for lack of approvals, sealed illegal petrol pumps, taken action against hawkers, and demolished unauthorised construction.
He even launched an initiative ‘Walk with the Commissioner’, under which he would set out on morning walks in different areas of Navi Mumbai and encourage citizens to directly approach him with complaints, which would then be promptly dealt with.
While politicians opposed him, Mundhe’s efforts received many plaudits from Navi Mumbai’s citizens and non-governmental organisations.
Fadnavis, who is said to have handpicked Mundhe for the job, initially backed him and rescinded the no-confidence motion, saying he was doing a good job and the city still needed him. The CM told mediapersons that he had advised Mundhe to improve his communication skills. However, soon after, the BJP-led Maharashtra government shunted him out to the PMPML.
Arun Bhise, president of the Navi Mumbai-based Citizens’ Unity Forum, said: “It is really unfortunate that honest and hardworking officials are met with this treatment. Mundhe tried to reform the system, change tender norms, discipline people, and enhance Navi Mumbai’s cleanliness.
“He was always very accessible to people, whether on the streets or in his office. Ultimately, if you have to bring in some discipline, you need someone with a clean character and behaviour, and someone who is a hard task-master.”
Leaving a trail of good governance
Mundhe grew up in Tadsonna, a village in Marathwada region’s Beed district, and has a master’s degree in political science from the Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University in Aurangabad. He joined the IAS in August 2005 as a supernumerary assistant collector at Solapur, one of his longest postings, which lasted two years from August 2005-2007.
Over the next five years, Mundhe worked as assistant collector of Degloor in Nanded, chief executive officer of the Nagpur and Washim zila parishads, additional tribal commissioner at Nashik, chief executive of the Khadi & Village Industries Commission, and the district collector of Jalna.
Although all these postings lasted for a year or less, Mundhe left his mark, reducing teacher absenteeism, stringently implementing the National Rural Health Mission, streamlining the use of development funds, and introducing e-governance initiatives.
Between September 2012 and November 2014, Mundhe worked as joint commissioner of Sales Tax (investigation branch) in Mumbai, and is said to have brought about the highest ever recovery in investigation at Rs 310 crore, more than double than what the annual target was.
The officer was also felicitated by CM Fadnavis as the ‘best collector’ for all-round performance in 2015-16, when Mundhe was in charge of the Solapur district, cracking down on the sand mafia and making hundreds of villages and hamlets tanker free in the water-scarce region.
As Nashik Municipal Commissioner, the 12th posting of Mundhe’s career, the bureaucrat started talking tough as soon as he took charge Friday. Speaking at a press conference after a day full of internal meetings, Mundhe declared his intention to insist on garbage segregation at source, take strict action against littering and the use of plastic bags below 50 microns, and develop a proper parking policy for the city.
“I appeal to everyone to follow the rules or be prepared for action,” Mundhe said at a press conference in Nashik. “I do not fear any pressure from anyone as long as I am working with honesty and for the benefit of the people.”
Thanks and salute to the Service Commission which select him.
It shows that there is no value for honest people the transfer of bureaucrat is best example of it. The honest officer was transferred because of currupt leaders and dirty politics.
What example we want to set before young generation. This type of actions are demotivating and ever condemned.
Regards
S pant
Common pepole is also not supporting that type officer because sabhi Ko apna kam pura hona chahiye
Mr. Mundhe is very able, honest and tough IAS officer. All political parties including BJP do not like him because he does not succumb to any pressures. It was expcted that Mr. Fadanvis will support honest and able officers but he has proven himself at par with any mediocre political leader. BJP is losing the credibility very fast and is on the road map of power hungry party.
I thank state government for transferring such officer to my native place Nashik. This is the only officer which inspires me to be IAS officer and source of motivation to pass UPSC.
Anyone who is sincere and hardworking is to be appreciated and not those who dance to the tune of politicans.
My sincere wishes to Mundhe sir on his endeavors. May you live long enough to continue to serve.
Our country needs everywhere such type of persons ! But we are not so lucky .
Tukaramji Mundhe will see entire maharashtra early.
Being non corrupt has hard returns.
Nashik City wants Honble Shri.Tuka ram Munde Sir
No one like this type of beaurocrat including normal people too. As no one stand in her support that’s proof no one like. All are corrupted including normal people and that’s why no one wants that type of beaurocrat. SABKO LE DE KE KAM KARNEWALE OFFICER ACHHE LAGTE HAI.
We the people want honest officials so long as they don’t inconvenience us. When other defenceless poor people are affected we praise him to sky. When the broom sweep reaches our territory we cry foul. Then the officer suddenly lacks communication skills, is high handed and is disrespectful of “people’s representative” . Don’t know Which people the report refers to.