None other than PM Narendra Modi has showered praise on chief secretary Sujata Saunik for being the first woman to lead the bureaucracy in the state. But, peace eludes her—Sena (UBT)’s Aaditya Thackeray has claimed that there is a possibility of her being replaced by additional chief secretary and former BMC chief Iqbal Singh Chahal. Thackeray said state election commissioner (SEC) UPS Madan is set to retire this month and there is a lot of pressure on Saunik to voluntarily step down—she retires only next June 30—and take over SEC’s reins.
Thackeray has taken the view that since Saunik is not toeing CM Eknath Shinde’s line, she will be persuaded to step down.In the corridors of power, Saunik, an IAS officer of the 1987 batch, is considered as one of the most honest and toughest bureaucrats. Her husband, Manoj, who retired on Dec 31 last year, has been appointed as chairman, MahaRera, in place of veteran bureaucrat Ajoy Mehta, whose tenure is coming to an end.
Saunik twice missed the bus when it came to heading the state bureaucracy—she was first superseded by her husband and then by Nitin Kareer. And then, despite being set to retire in three months, Kareer was given an extension, leaving Saunik with a tenure of less than a year.
After taking over as chief secretary, junior bureaucrats had expected that Saunik would bring in a comprehensive policy on postings and transfers, although that prerogative is the CM’s. Let alone finishing their three-year tenure, many bureaucrats were shunted out in less than a year in the recent past.
Fixing Goa h’way mess
Eknath Shinde is the first CM in recent times to take on erring contractors associated with Mumbai-Goa highway’s construction. Union minister Nitin Gadkari had warned contractors and NH officials against poor quality work but didn’t take any officer or contractor to task. CMs Sushilkumar Shinde, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan and Devendra Fadnavis had conducted spot inspections and detected faults, but no step was taken to fix responsibility. Public works minister Ravindra Chavan, a trusted aide of Fadnavis, also visited the highway, but again, no action was taken. All these visits appeared to be symbolic. Ravindra’s directive to fill potholes before Ganesh festival was seen as customary as he had made several similar statements since taking over the reins of his department.
Shinde visited the NH with determination and when he found potholes, he directed officials to initiate criminal proceedings against contractors and PWD officials for causing death by negligence. It is to be seen if Shinde takes the criminal cases to their logical end.