Ramanath Jha transferred

“He has been appointed as the CMD of the MMRDA,” Nalinakshan confirmed. Jha, who was summoned to Mumbai late last evening was not available for comment.

Recipient of the Chinmulgund Award for distinguished administrative services, Jha had taken charge as the PMC commissioner on May 30, 1995. He was one month short of completing his full tenure here.

Jha had become extremely popular among the Puneites, who had even rallied behind him during his extended cold war with the ruling party corporators at the PMC last year. Even Chief Minister Manohar Joshi had stood by him solidly, refusing to transfer him at the behest of a local political heavyweight.

Till a few months ago, Jha was making headlines for crossing swords with the then standing committee chairman Aba Bagul. The officer with a smooth disposition but a `no nonsense’ approach was often referred to as the “demolition man” by the elected representatives who found themselves at the receiving end many a time.

But even his staunch detractors at the PMC corridors admit that Jha provided a new direction to budgetary planning, shifting the focus from “populist” development projects to micro level planning of civic infrastructure with an eye on long-term benefits.

He was quite enthusiastic about framing of new policies and floating novel ideas which often led to public debates in which he would participate rather energetically. He stuck to his views whether it was banning six-seater autorickshaws from municipal limits, de-zoning agricultural lands, bringing down the Floor Space Index (FSI) in congested areas or raising FSI limits in the posh Koregaon Park area.

The mega water supply and sewerage system augmentation plan, the proposed High Capacity Mass Transit System, the concept of raising funds by floating municipal bonds, the PMT-PCMT merger proposal, the introduction of the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) and devising a Development Plan (DP) for the 38 fringe villages merged with the PMC were given a major impetus during his tenure.

The administration, under his stewardship, achieved success in shifting the Shantinagar slum in Kothrud, curbing large-scale octroi evasion, clearing over 10 lakh square feet of area of encroachments. However, some of his others proposals including pay-n-park scheme for Laxmi Road and Jangli Maharaj Road and banning of six seaters ran into rough weather.

The clean city drive and literacy campaign evoked only moderate response from the citizens despite active participation by Jha.

Jha, who holds a masters degree in history and commercial management began his career as a lecturer. He joined the Indian Police Service (IPS) in 1976. He soon opted for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and belongs to the batch of 1977.

The previous assignments of the 48-year-old IAS officer include Assistant Collector and Administrator of Pandharpur Municipal Council (1980-82), Administrator of the Solapur Municipal Corporation (19982-84), Chief Executive Officer of the Nashik Zilla Parishad (1984-85), Additional Commissioner and Director of the Tribal Development Board (19985-88), District Collector of Ahmednagar (1988-89), Director, Ministry of Defence (1991-94), Chairman, Maharashtra Subordinate Service Selection Board and Chairman and Managing Director of the State Warehousing Corporation, Pune (1994-95).