Madan to take over as MMRDA chief

The state government has appointed Urvinder Pal Singh as the commissioner of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority. The post had fallen vacant after the retirement of former Metropolitan Commissioner Rahul Asthana on February 28 and was being held by Shreekant Singh, Principal Secretary of Maharashtra Urban Development department, as an additional charge.

Madan, a 1983-batch IAS officer, and the Vice Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC), had earlier served the Mumbai Transformation Support Unit that facilitated Mumbai's transformation.

Its mandate included advising on, co-coordinating and monitoring projects undertaken by the various city agencies.

The 53-year-old Madan, a commerce graduate who also has a degree in law from the Panjab University, has also held other significant posts such as Deputy Secretary and Director with the Department of Atomic Energy and Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra.

Madan's stint will be important as the city is likely to see introduction of various new transportation systems including the monorail and the Metro in the next few years.

The MMRDA has taken up projects worth Rs 2 lakh crore to improve the transport system in the city. Even though these projects are being undertaken on a public private partnership, the MMRDA will have to shell out close to Rs 40,000 crore as viability gap funding.

Raising funds and utilising them effectively are likely to be the major challenges before Madan.

Reshuffles in state

Apurva Chandra has been appointed as principal secretary industries. Manu Kumar Shrivastava was handling the charge as an additional responsibility along with the Urban Development Department.

G B Maware will take over as additional divisional commissioner, Aurangabad Division

B G Wagh, collector, Buldhana, has been transferred and posted as additional divisional commissioner, Amravati Division

K V Kurundkar, CEO, zilla parishad, Thane, has been transferred and posted as collector, Buldana in place of Wagh

ALSO READ

Teen raped at birthday party, sold to man

Alleged bomb planter Siddiqui claims ATS threatened to kill him

Cops pin hopes on CCTV footage to arrest acid attack accused

BMC single window to help people check legality of flats