A fresh round of ward leadership appointments was announced by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, under which four assistant commissioners were posted to address long-standing vacancies across the city. The selections were made from a Maharashtra Public Service Commission cohort, and the postings were cleared under the directives of Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani. By this move, a pipeline that had been set in motion through a competitive examination process was translated into on-ground administrative capacity at the ward level.
Under the new orders, C Ward in Marine Lines was placed under the charge of Santosh Gorakh Salunke, F South in Parel was assigned to Vrushali Pandurang Ingule, B Ward in Dongri was allotted to Yogesh Ranjitrao Desai, and R South in Kandivali was entrusted to Aarti Bhagwan Golekar. Through these placements, critical supervisory roles that had remained unoccupied were brought back into a regular command structure, by which routine civic functions and local service delivery are expected to be strengthened.
Alongside the new inductions, a slate of internal transfers was implemented. K East Ward in Andheri East was assigned to Nitin Shukla on a full-time basis, after additional charge had earlier been held by him. Reassignments to the city engineering department were effected for Sanjay Ingle, formerly of C Ward, and for Manish Salve, previously posted in R South. A move to S Ward in Bhandup was ordered for Mahesh Patil, while responsibilities in the markets department were given to Alka Sasane. Through this redistribution, ward management was rebalanced and specialist functions were repositioned where they were considered most effective.
The appointments were drawn from a list of 14 candidates who had been recommended by the MPSC. From this group, six officers had been brought on board earlier, while four have been positioned through the latest orders. The remaining four candidates were stated to be at different stages: one was yet to be relieved by a previous employer, one was on maternity leave, and two were undergoing departmental orientation. Their postings were indicated to be completed once the respective formalities and training were concluded.
These measures were preceded by a period in which unfilled assistant commissioner posts were kept functional through temporary delegation. During that phase, duties were handled by officers from the deputy chief engineer and executive engineer cadres, by which administrative continuity was ensured. The interim arrangement was necessitated after a report dated September 22 had highlighted that six wards were without full-time ward officers. With the current appointments, a restoration of standard leadership structures has been achieved at the ward level, and a steadier flow of decision-making and service oversight is expected to follow.