IAS officers to 'mentor' 10 Maha cities for 'Smart City' plan

The Maharashtra government has appointed ten senior IAS officers to "mentor" each of the ten cities in the state that have been selected for the Centre's 'Smart City' project.
The decision to appoint a mentor for these ten cities has been taken considering that these places will be competing with other 90 cities from across the country to become a 'Smart City'. In the first phase, only around 20 cities will be selected under the project.
The ten cities from Maharashtra selected for development as smart cities are: Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli, Pune-Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Nagpur, Amravati, Solapur and Aurangabad.

"As cities have to prepare their plan in a way that it remains in the competition till the end, experienced and senior bureaucrats have been appointed as mentors for each of the ten cities," said Manisha Mhaiskar, secretary to Urban Development Department (UDD).
"Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has taken care to ensure that the bureaucrat has in-depth knowledge of the city concerned and is aware of its needs. He should have previously worked in the city or at the Municipal Corporation, for which he has been appointed," she added.
Nitin Kareer, Principal Secretary (UDD-1) has been appointed as the mentor of Pune-Pimpri-Chinchwad, as he had served as the Commissioner of the Pune Municipal Corporation.

Similarly, Ajoy Mehta, present Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) will be the mentor for Mumbai.

Manu Kumar Srivastava, Principal Secretary (Revenue) will prepare a roadmap for Thane, while Sanjay Bhatia, Managing Director of CIDCO will take care of Navi Mumbai.
U P S Madan, Metropolitan Commissioner (MMRDA) will mentor Kalyan-Dombivli.
Praveen Pardeshi, Principal secretary to Chief Minister has been given the responsibility of CM's hometown Nagpur, whereas, Milind Mhaiskar, secretary to CM will be the mentor for Solapur city.
Apurva Chandra, Principal Secretary of Industries and Power has been given the responsibility of Aurangabad.