Top three priorities for Ashwini Bhide as Mumbai’s first woman civic chief

Ashwini Bhide, 55, has been entrusted with managing the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) at a time of transition, with elected representatives returning to India’s richest civic body after a gap of more than three years due to delayed elections. While interacting with the media at the BMC headquarters in Fort, the senior bureaucrat spoke about her approach, priorities, and more. Excerpts:

The rainy season is just two months away. Is Mumbai monsoon-ready?
Certainly. The BMC has done extensive preparation over the years to mitigate floods. It has continuously worked to increase Mumbai’s flood resilience. Planning and preparedness are continuous processes, and the BMC has handled work with a lot of precision and foresight.
 
The BMC has an elected body of representatives again. How do you plan to work with it?
Every government institution, including municipal corporations, has an elected body. Not having elected representatives for a while was an exception this time. Elected representatives make Mumbai and the BMC what they are.
 
The BMC’s largest budget was unveiled last month, and you are now tasked with its effective implementation. What are your plans?
I have worked in BMC for four years as additional municipal commissioner. This gave me a chance to learn the ways in which the organisation functions, and I am familiar with the way many of its officers and departments work. The BMC, as an organisation, has a lot of discipline, and I plan to take that forward.

Civic chief’s priorities