Pune: IAS officer Tukaram Mundhe is in the eye of a storm again, with newly-elected Pune Mayor and senior BJP leader Mukta Tilak seeking his ouster as the city’s transport head. Ms. Tilak has said she will complain to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and demand that the State government absorb Mr. Mundhe.
Ms. Tilak, along with BJP corporators in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), sought Mr. Mundhe’s removal as Chairman and Managing Director of the Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited (PMPML) after he remained absent for a meeting called by the PMC on Wednesday to discuss the recent hike in school bus fares.
Following this, the corporators seized their chance to vent their spleen against the bureaucrat, known for his no-nonsense style of functioning. “When the CMD shows such scant respect for the public and its elected representatives, we are left with no alternative but to seek redressal with the Chief Minister and demand his ouster… this meeting [on the hike in bus fares] was a sensitive issue in which he inexplicably chose to remain absent,” Ms. Tilak said, adding that she would confer with Mr. Fadnavis shortly on the matter.
Ms. Tilak said Mr. Mundhe’s attitude was ‘overbearing’ and that the IAS officer was not “paying heed to the issues” raised by elected representatives of the PMC.
Shrinath Bhimale, leader of the House in the PMC, said that while previous heads of the PMPML worked in tandem and consulted corporators, Mr. Mundhe behaved “arrogantly” and took elected members “for granted”.
Earlier this month, Ms. Tilak and her party’s corporators had taken umbrage to Mr. Mundhe’s allegedly unilateral decision to raise bus fare hikes without bothering to inform school administrations in advance.
The PMPML, which runs the special bus service for city schools at the rate of Rs. 61 per km, more than doubled the rate to Rs. 141 per km in the middle of the month.
It additionally hiked the costs of the daily pass service to Rs. 70 from Rs. 50.
The PMPML justified the hike stating that PMC, which has a 60% stake in the transport body, failed to provide its requisite subsidy.
The PMC has to pay 25% of the total transport bills charged by the PMPML for PMC-run schools. The transport body has explained its hike stating that the civic body has failed to pay the amount.
This is not the first time that Mr. Mundhe, widely perceived as an honest officer and known for his crackdown on corruption, has attracted the ire of politicians.
Ever since he took over the reins of the PMPML in March this year, Mr. Mundhe has come into conflict with ruling-party corporators in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) as well, while pulling up several of the transport body’s own employees for sloth.
Formerly Municipal Commissioner of Navi Mumbai, Mr. Mundhe was transferred to Pune in less than a year as head of the PMPML after corporators in the Navi Mumbai corporation passed a no-confidence motion against him alleging that the bureaucrat ‘disrespected’ elected representatives and functioned ‘arbitrarily’.
