Accent is on resource generation8217;

There may not be many precedents of an officer being posted as commissioner of a corporation after being a collector in the same district, but the term demotion8217; is a misnomer. In fact, thecollector has little to do with the corporations within his limits other than co-ordinating events at a district level. There have been instances of officers of the rank of deputy secretary being posted as commissioners in municipal corporations of Thane and Navi Mumbai, and the post keeps getting upgraded or downgraded depending on who the government is appointing. In fact, the present commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Mumbai Corporation is of the rank of additional chief secretary.

You have been transferred four times in a year8230;

What can one say? I8217;m a government servant and have to obey orders. From the Thane collectorate to Mantralaya to the Tribal Welfare Commissionerate and now here 8211; I have never asked for any post or transfer. I only know one thing: You have to do a good job wherever you are posted.

What will be your priorities?

Resource generation is going to need maximum and urgent attention at the KDMC. I don8217;t want to sound alarmist and say that we are in the red, but we mayget there if curative steps are not taken soon. I will also concentrate on water shortage in pockets of Dombivali and Kalyan. We will concentrate on finishing projects already taken up, especially the two flyovers in progress. We will not take on additional expenses which are not immediately necessary.

You have already hinted that the Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Transport fares need a hike. Which are the other areas you plan to tap for funds?

The fares will have to go up. We are not generating enough funds from KDMT. Having spent Rs 11.16 crore on the KDMT to date since it began in March and earned only Rs 11.21 crore, we8217;ll have to do better than that as fuel, maintainance and administrative costs will only go up from here. We will try to boost octroi collection, but there is a limit to which that can be done.

It may sound unpopulist, but water and property taxes will also have to be raised. We collect a whopping Rs 22 crore per year lesser than what we ought to for the watersupplied.

What are your plans for tackling illegal constructions and encroachments?

I have already initiated steps to clamp down heavily on ongoing illegal constructions and encroachments. But this should not be misconstrued to mean that illegal structures in place will be spared.

What about endangered structures? You already had to deal with a building crash as soon as you took over last week.

There is no alternative to getting the residents of critical structures forcibly evicted in their own interest. This problem is more chronic in Dombivali W, and we8217;ll undertake a drive to tackle it.

Your predecessors have had to put up with pressure and interference from the unions and politicians8230; o I AM here to preform my duties and nothing can come in the way of that. I want the civic body to deliver the services it is supposed to. Nothing should come in the way of that.