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Ashwini Bhide

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This article is about the IAS officer. For the Hindustani classical musician, see Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande.
Ashwini Bhide, IAS (MH-1995)
Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Government of Maharashtra & Managing Director, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MMRCL), Additional charge
In office
13 December 2024 – present
Personal details
Born (1970-05-25) 25 May 1970 (age 54)[1]
Sangli, Maharashtra, India
Nationality Indian

Ashwini Bhide is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer from the batch of 1995 of Maharashtra cadre, is a post-graduate in English Literature from Pune University.  She was ranked first among women candidates in Civil Service Examination in year 1995.

Ms Ashwini Bhide has helmed some of the most ambitious, complex and mega urban infrastructure projects in the city of Mumbai - Coastal Road project as AMC of BMC, Mumbai Metro Line 3 as MD of MMRC, Eastern Freeway, the elevated road to International Airport, several flyovers on major arterial roads and rail over bridges including Milan ROB as well as the first phase of Mumbai Monorail in her stint with MMRDA.

As Additional Municipal Commissioner of BMC, she spearheaded the recently commissioned Mumbai Coastal Road Project which is one of the most prestigious and ambitious projects of Govt of Maharashtra. She was also the Head of BMC’s COVID19 Response War Room where several digital initiatives were rapidly implemented, including the Daily Dashboards which were recognized at national as well as at international level.She is predominantly known for her work on the Aqua Line or popularly known as Line 3 of the Mumbai Metro. She served as Managing Director of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRCL), which is a joint venture of the Government of India and Government of Maharashtra since its inception, i.e. 2015 until 2020.[2][3]

In a career of 27+ years, Ms Ashwini Bhide has held many key positions in the State Government.

Ms. Bhide is currently serving as the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and also holds the position of Managing Director of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC).  MMRC, which is a 50:50 JV of GOI and GOM is executing Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro Line 3.  Mumbai Metro Line 3 is part of Mumbai Metro Master Plan (357 km network consisting of 14 Metro corridors) prepared by Government of Maharashtra (GoM).  Line 3 is 33.5 km long fully underground Metro corridor with 27 (26 Underground + 1 At grade) stations and connects major CBDs and employment centers, Domestic and International terminals of Airport and several areas, which are not served by Suburban Railways. It is expected to carry 17 lakh passengers per day. The overall estimated cost of the project is Rs. 37,276 crores, out of which Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide a loan assistance of Rs. 21,280 crores. She has been instrumental in getting various challenges hampering this project addressed in an expeditious manner with her leadership and coordination skills. Phase-1, Aarey to BKC (12.69 km) of Mumbai Metro Line 3 was inaugurated by Hon’ble PM on 05.10.2024 and opened for passengers on 07.10.2024. Phase-2 of the Project is scheduled to be completed in this year 2025.

Ashwini Bhide was named 'Woman Leader of the Year - Governance' at the ETPrime Women Leadership Awards in 2023.[4]

Career

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Bhide started her career as the Assistant Collector of the Ichalkaranji, Kolhapur district from 1997 to 1999. Following this, she was posted as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Sindhudurg district from 1999 to 2000 following which she was transferred to the Nagpur district.[1]

Bhide was appointed the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Sindhudurg & Nagpur Zilla Parishad between 1999 and 2002 and Additional Divisional Commissioner, Nagpur between 2002 and 2003. She built 434 dams across 310 villages at a cost of ₹300,000 to bring 7,000 hectares of land under irrigation.[5] Between 2004 and 2008, she was appointed as Deputy Secretary to the Governor of Maharashtra following which she was appointed as Additional Metropolitan Commissioner at the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).[6] She also served as School Education and Sports Secretary and was instrumental in bringing the Systematic Administrative Reforms for Achieving Learning by Students (SARAL) database online.[7]

During her tenure at the MMRDA, she was seen as the driving force for several big ticket projects including the Eastern Freeway,[8] Sahar Elevated Access Road,[9]  Mithi river cleanup which involved rehabilitation of over 4000 affected projected affected people,[10] the Mumbai Monorail[11] and the first line[12] of the Mumbai Metro.[13][6] Her work in the rehabilitation of 5,000 people across the city for various infrastructure projects has been considered a case study.[14]

In March 2020, Bhide, who was till then not assigned a role post her exit from the MMRC, was deputed to the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) taskforce as an Additional Municipal Commissioner to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in Maharashtra.[15] Bhide has been tasked with overseeing the Corporation's contact tracing efforts as well as to monitor the control room and provide assistance to hospitals.[16]

Education:

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·       Post-graduate in English Literature from University of Pune, 1992.

·       Post-graduate in Marathi Literature from SNDT University, 2006.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Biodata of Ms Ashwini Satish Bhide". Single User platform Related To Employees Online (SUPREMO). Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  2. ^ Haima Deshpande (22 January 2020). "Fearless, efficient IAS officer Ashwini Bhide moved out of Mumbai Metro in 'routine' change". ThePrint. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  3. ^ Sanjay Jog (4 April 2015). "Mumbai Metro III work will start by 2016: Ashwini Bhide". Business Standard India. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  4. ^ "ETPrime Women Leadership Awards 2023". The Economic Times.
  5. ^ Radhika, V (25 August 2002). "They inspired villagers to harvest water". The Sunday Tribune. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  6. ^ a b Sheikh, Zeeshan; Ashar, Sandeep (26 January 2020). "Ashwini Bhide: The woman at the wheel". The Indian Express. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  7. ^ "Soon, get school, student info from online SARAL database | Kolhapur News - Times of India". The Times of India. 8 July 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  8. ^ "Rs 847-cr eastern freeway road project in Mumbai to be ready by December". Hindu Business. 22 May 2012. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  9. ^ Ateeq Shaikh (6 February 2014). "Opening of Sahar elevated road to Terminal 2 likely on February 11". DNA India. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  10. ^ Chittaranjan Tembhekar (30 May 2013). "Mithi will not flood: Maharashtra chief secretary | Mumbai News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  11. ^ Rahul Wadke (28 January 2014). "Mumbai monorail first phase to be ready soon". Hindu Business. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  12. ^ "MMRDA offers tenements to Sarvodaya Staff Quarter residents at Govandi". India Infoline. 13 April 2010. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  13. ^ Ashraf, Syed Firdaus (10 November 2015). "The woman who will change the face of Mumbai". Rediff. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  14. ^ Pate, Neil (28 July 2018). "DNA Mumbai Anniversary: Meet IAS officer Ashwini Bhide who has shattered many glass ceiling with her intellect". DNA India. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  15. ^ "IAS officers 'on waiting' now part of Covid-19 task force". Hindustan Times. 30 March 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  16. ^ "Mumbai: CM ropes in 3 senior IAS officers for BMC's covid-19 preparedness - ET Government". Economic Times. 10 April 2020. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
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