Won’t budge: Maha IAS man in crosshairs with the BJP

Mumbai: Nashik municipal commissioner Tukaram Mundhe on Wednesday said that he was not worried by the no-confidence motion that he is facing in the BJP-ruled Nashik municipal corporation. A special general body meeting of the civic body is likely to be held on September 1 to discuss the motion.

Asked about the motion, the IAS officer said, “What can I say? It is their (corporators/) choice. As far as I am concerned, I will continue to do what I am doing to improve the civic administration.” Mayor Ranjana Bhansi said citizens are unhappy with the Nashik Municipal Corporation's (NMC) recent “drastic upward revision” of tax rates. “For a property of 1,300 sqft, the tax has gone up from Rs 3,400 to Rs 21,000,” she said. Mundhe, an IAS officer of 2005 batch, faced similar problems with politicians during much of his tenure and is said to have been transferred 10 times in the last 10 years.

Asked if he apprehends that he will be shunted out again, Mundhe said, “I don't count my transfers.” “Allegations against my style of functioning are untrue and unfounded. There is nothing arbitrary in my decisions, which were taken keeping in mind the interests of the common man in Nashik,” he said.