Bhushan Gagrani takes charge as BMC Commissioner

Mumbai: A few hours after the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday directed the Maharashtra government to appoint Bhushan Gagrani, a 1990-batch IAS officer, as the new Commissioner of the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the latter took charge from outgoing BMC chief Iqbal Chahal, who has been transferred.

In its compliance report submitted to the ECI on Tuesday, the state government suggested three names -- Gagrani, Anil Diggikar, and Sanjay Mukherjee -- for the post of BMC chief. This came after the ECI expressed displeasure over the state government not acting upon its previous orders to transfer Iqbal Chahal, who has already completed three years in office.

Gagrani was the Additional Chief Secretary in the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) before being appointed as the BMC Commissioner.

In a social media post, Chahal confirmed that he handed over the charge to Gagrani on Wednesday.

"I express my deep & sincere gratitude and gratefulness to the Government of Maharashtra for providing me an opportunity to work as Municipal Commissioner, BMC, for almost 4 years, which included 2 years of fight against the Covid pandemic followed by nearly 2 years of working as MC & Administrator of BMC. The Government blessed me with a unique opportunity to serve the citizens of Mumbai which I have tried doing to my level best," Chahal's post read.

"I feel happy today that I could contribute my small bit to serve the respected citizens of our glorious & great city of Mumbai to the best of my abilities," he added.

Chahal also thanked the media for extending cooperation to him during his stint as the BMC Commissioner.