Mumbai Governance: Ashwini Bhide Takes Charge As BMC Chief, Focus Shifts To Urban Challenges And Environmental Balance
· Free Press Journal
Senior IAS officer Ashwini Bhide being appointed as the Municipal Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) made headlines. And it should, given that she is the first woman in the chair since the civic body was set up by the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act of 1888.
However, it would be historically imprudent to view Bhide only in this perspective and applaud the Maharashtra government for the gender-sensitive appointment.
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Bhide now heads India’s richest civic body — the budget for the current year is nearly Rs 81,000 crore — and has tremendous influence over the daily lives of nearly 18 million Mumbaikars. What lies ahead of her are the known challenges of urban governance as well as the burden of navigating Mumbai’s today in the context of the city’s future.
Experience and career trajectory
Bhide comes to the assignment not only with experience but also with perspectives, a worldview. These merit an evaluation — but first, her work record. An officer from the 1995 Maharashtra cadre, Bhide began her career as an assistant district collector in Kolhapur, then worked as the Chief Executive Officer of district councils, Additional Metropolitan Commissioner of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority from 2008 to 2014, and Managing Director of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd from 2015 to 2020.
Bhide also served in the BMC as the Additional Municipal Commissioner during the Covid-19 pandemic; her work on the Covid dashboard earned her praise. She was then appointed as the Additional Chief Secretary to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. It is an impressive record and, in the critical past decade of her career, she appears to have been on the right side of those in power.
Metro legacy and controversies
Of all her assignments, Bhide is best remembered for Metro 3, the underground Aqua Line, and has been popularly called ‘Metro Woman’. But it is also here that her perspective was called into question.
In the Fadnavis-led government’s belligerence to situate the car shed of the metro in Aarey, she brooked no intervention, dismissed objections from environmentalists, treated activists with disdain, and barely looked at alternatives. It was under her watch that more than 2,200 trees in Aarey were slashed to the ground in one stroke. She said then that Aarey was not legally a forest — a fig leaf of an excuse.
Balancing development and environment
Bhide probably comprehends the need to situate Mumbai’s infrastructure in an ecologically sound framework but has been found wanting in practice. This is a concern. Protecting Mumbai’s environment and adapting for climate vulnerability are as much her responsibility as building infrastructure.
Token appearances at climate events make no sense if she remains committed to the idea that ‘development’ will be done at the cost of the environment. It is an outdated idea.
Bhide owes it to future generations of Mumbaikars to be the custodian of Mumbai’s natural environment. That she has Fadnavis’ backing is apparent. How she commands it for the Mumbai of today — and tomorrow — will decide the quality of her tenure more than her gender.