Mumbai: Barely days after the new government took charge, assistant municipal commissioner Kiran Dighavkar, who is known for handling Dharavi’s Covid-19 crisis, has been transferred from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s ward office in Dadar to Byculla.
The legislator of Byculla is Yamini Yashwant Jadhav, wife of former Shiv Sena corporator Yashwant Jadhav. The Income Tax department raided Yashwant’s house earlier this year.
Dighavkar served as the ward officer of G/North (G/N) ward which covered the Dadar, Mahim and Dharavi areas for three years, and is also known to be in the ‘good books’ of former minister Aaditya Thackeray.
“I have spent three years and 27 days in the G/N ward office and my transfer was due, so in that case, I cannot complain and comment on the matter of why the civic administration decided to transfer me. My objective is to keep doing work for the people and now I will work in bettering the civic amenities in Byculla like how I had done in my previous wards,” said Dighavkar.
During his tenure, Dighavkar was also made in charge of the Planning Department and was given the responsibility of spearheading several beautification and development projects in island city and suburbs under the ‘Tactical Urbanism’ programme, which was the brainchild of Aaditya Thackeray.
Dighavkar added, “The transfer order also says that the charges of the Planning Department and Solid Waste Management (SWM) are still with me.”
Dighavkar also held additional charge of the civic Solid Waste Management (SWM). He was also responsible for carrying out routine administrative works in his ward and is known for implementing projects like creating Mumbai’s largest public toilet in Dharavi through CSR funds, improvement of the Andheri-Ghatkopar Link Road, making the city’s first viewing deck at Dadar Chowpatty and restoration of the Mahim beach.
Last year Dighavkar also authored a book “The Dharavi Model”, which was inaugurated by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. In his book, Dighavkar also mentioned the former CM’s support in tackling the covid crisis in Dharavi.
Dighavkar is being replaced by Prashant Sapkale, who currently heads the K/East (Andheri East, Jogeshwari) ward office in the western suburbs. Meanwhile, Sapkale is being replaced by Manish Valanju who is currently in charge of the Byculla ward.
Transfer of civic officials after the change of government is not new, earlier Ajoy Mehta who served as the municipal commissioner between 2015-2019 during Devendra Fadnavis’s government was later promoted and appointed as Chief Secretary of the state. Mehta was replaced by Praveen Pardeshi in 2019, following which he was replaced by Iqbal Singh Chahal in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic, months after Uddhav Thackeray became the chief minister of the state.