Booted after Covid, Praveen Pardeshi set to return as chief of state’s policy think-tank

Mumbai: Former municipal commissioner of the city, Praveen Pardeshi, who was shunted out in the peak of the pandemic in May 2020 is set to be back as the chief of the state’s policy think tank. Pardeshi, who is currently working as a member of the National Capacity Building Commission, is likely to be selected as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Niti Aayog-like think tank centre – Maharashtra Institution for Transformation (MITRA) – in the state.

Pardeshi, 62, is a retired IAS officer of the 1985 batch and has worked in key positions with successive governments in Maharashtra. He had handled the chief minister’s office during the tenure of Vilasrao Deshmukh and Devendra Fadnavis. He was widely appreciated for handling relief and rehabilitation during the 1993 Latur earthquake. As municipal commissioner during the Covid outbreak in one of the worst affected cities in the country, he helmed the civic body’s efforts to set up Covid treatment infrastructure facilities in Mumbai. He was transferred abruptly following differences with his seniors. Instead of taking up his posting as additional chief secretary (urban development), Pardeshi chose a deputation to the United Nations.

After losing the chance to become the chief secretary in February 2021, he took voluntary retirement from the service to join the Central government’s National Capacity Building Commission as a member (administration).

The state government is set to issue advertisements for the post of CEO of MITRA after which Pardeshi is likely to be selected. Sources in the state government said that Pardeshi had had a discussion with chief minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis on this issue. When asked about his possible appointment in MITRA, Pardeshi replied: “Nothing yet.”

The Niti Aayog (a version of the erstwhile planning commission) has the prime minister as its head. MITRA will have the chief minister as head.

On December 1, Shinde appointed his close aide and builder Ajay Ashar and former Shiv Sena legislator Rajendra Kshirsagar on the MITRA panel as its vice president. It drew criticism from opposition parties who also pointed out that the BJP leaders had themselves raised the role of Ashar in urban development department decisions during the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) rule. Shinde was the urban development minister of the MVA.