D K Malik, former chief executive officer (CEO) of Khadki Cantonment Board (KCB) took charge of Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) late on Tuesday evening. A formal announcement is scheduled on Wednesday. Malik took over from S K Sardana who has been transferred as Joint Director (Defense Estates), Western Command Chandigarh.

Earlier, the elected board members had flayed Sardana’s transfer which came at the approaching assembly and parliamentary elections, saying that it may delay various ongoing development projects. Sardana, however, described his brief stint with the board as a successful experience.

Sardana took over as the PCB CEO on June 26, 2006. Interacting with this paper, earlier, Sardana said that the Pune Cantonment when compared to the other two cantonment located in Khadki and Dehu Cantonment is more of a commercial hub. As a result, the issues faced by the board at times are of "varied but extraordinary in nature."

He had said that one of the major challenges the board was grappling with was streamlining of vehicular movement within the congested camp area. Apart from that illegal hawking that has come up in parts of M G Road, East Street and other areas is another serious challenge. Despite the board taking effective steps to decongest these areas with the help of the traffic police by barring heavy vehicles from entering the camp area, parking remains an issue.

Sardana was instrumental in a number of developmental projects like initiating the FSI increase proposal, which had been pending before command headquarters for days together. Some of the other achievements attributed to him include crackdown on illegal hawkers, the novel Public Outreach Programme (POP) that was a major hit in all the eight wards of Pune Cantonment where the cantonment residents were apprised of various public welfare schemes and ensured implementation of development programmes besides offering on the spot solution to the issues confronting the residents.

... contd.