Transferred over COVID-19, Ex-BMC chief Pravin Pardeshi gets UN ‘crisis response’ offer
Praveen Pardeshi
I am considering it, he says; if he accepts, former BMC chief will head UN’s efforts to prevent non-communicable diseases.
Praveen Pardeshi , Mumbai ’s former municipal commissioner who was transferred on May 9 as the city struggled to contain the spread of Covid-19, has been approached by the United Nations with a ‘crisis response’ posting. Pardeshi told Mirror, “The UN has approached me with a job on crisis response and I am considering it.” A close friend said the job would entail heading the UN’s efforts to prevent non-communicable diseases in 90 countries.
If Pardeshi accepts the offer it will be his third stint with the UN. A 1985-batch IAS officer, he worked for the UN from 2002 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2010. The latest offer, a source said, was based on his experience in handling the rehabilitation of Latur district after the 1993 earthquake, when he was collector there.
When the BJP-led government came into power in the state, he was appointed as head of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s secretariat. In 2019, he took over as BMC commissioner from Ajoy Mehta, who went on to become chief secretary.
But sources in the bureaucracy said that Pardeshi never got along well with Mehta and that the two often disagreed on matters related to the BMC’sCovid-19 response . Mehta had also appointed many IAS officers to the BMC, which irked Pardeshi. In the first week of May, a team from the central government headed by joint secretary (health) Lav Agarwal visited Mumbai and found fault with BMC’s fight against the virus.
Around the same time, pictures showing dead bodies lying in bags next to Covid-19 patients at Sion hospital surfaced on social media.
The state soon transferred Pardeshi and brought in I S Chahal as commissioner. Pardeshi was made additional chief secretary of the urban development department, and also given charge of the irrigation department. Soon after, the UN got in touch with the job offer.
If Pardeshi accepts the offer it will be his third stint with the UN. A 1985-batch IAS officer, he worked for the UN from 2002 to 2007 and from 2009 to 2010. The latest offer, a source said, was based on his experience in handling the rehabilitation of Latur district after the 1993 earthquake, when he was collector there.
After his stint as collector, Pardeshi joined the state government and was appointed forest secretary of Maharashtra.
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When the BJP-led government came into power in the state, he was appointed as head of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s secretariat. In 2019, he took over as BMC commissioner from Ajoy Mehta, who went on to become chief secretary.
But sources in the bureaucracy said that Pardeshi never got along well with Mehta and that the two often disagreed on matters related to the BMC’s
Around the same time, pictures showing dead bodies lying in bags next to Covid-19 patients at Sion hospital surfaced on social media.
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The state soon transferred Pardeshi and brought in I S Chahal as commissioner. Pardeshi was made additional chief secretary of the urban development department, and also given charge of the irrigation department. Soon after, the UN got in touch with the job offer.
