Trigger for triumph: In conversation with Municipal administrator Dr Abhijeet Chaudhari

Yogesh Gole

Many a time, a small incident can change the course of your life making you realise that you are destined for greater things. One such trigger point came in the life of new Municipal Commissioner/Administrator of the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation Dr Abhijeet Chaudhari, when he was a school student. Participating in an elocution competition on the subject, “What do you want to be?”, he delivered a speech sharing his dream of becoming a doctor.

Class teacher Jawale Sir asked Abhijeet, “Why doctor? Be a collector.’’ That was when Abhijeet, who hails from Bhusawal in Jalgaon district, came to know about the civil services, and the prestige associated with the post of collector. He went on to fulfill his potential, becoming an IAS officer.

Q: Please tell us about your academic journey.

A: I came from a doctors’ family, both my parents are doctors. I graduated in medicine from KEM Medical College, Parel. During the internship, I had to take a final call on whether to do postgraduation in medicine or go for civil services. I consulted some officers and my seniors. I strongly felt that what I wanted in my life will be better achieved if I opt for civil services. In my first attempt, I got into IPS in 2010 and was allotted Karnataka cadre. I wished to improve my performance so made another attempt and got into IAS in 2011. Fortunately, I was allotted Maharashtra cadre.

Q: What would be your advise for aspirants? How did you prepare for the tough examination?

A: Choosing civil services just because somebody is advising you to do so or you are inspired looking at people occupying high positions is not good. Think hard before you decide. Evaluate your strong and weak points. Have a strategy of what you will do if you could not make it after spending years for preparations. I myself had decided that I will attempt only thrice and if could not succeed, would opt for PG in medicine.

Back in 2009-10, we had two optional subjects. Medical science was a natural choice for me and I took political science as other option. If you chose optional subject because it has given result to somebody else and you don’t like the subject, it will be boring and you will not be able to study it for long. I had chalked out daily schedule of what I was going to read on a particular day. I studied in Delhi.

Q: How has been your experience after getting into IAS?

A: Very enriching! My first posting was as a probationer at Osmanabad and Nanded. During this brief period, we work as tehsildar, BDO. As assistant collector at Kinwat, I got to know about the issues of tribal areas. The most interesting assignment was administrator of Mahur Devasthan of Renukadevi. We could improve devsthan functioning and facilities for devotees. The income of the Sansthan actually rose to Rs 4 to 5 crore from a few lakhs. As Chief Executive Officer, Aurangabad Zilla Parishad I started an initiative ‘ZP at Your Doorstep’ wherein we visited villages and resolved peoples issues on the spot.

During my tenure of three and half years as district collector in Sangli, we conducted legislative assembly and Lok Sabha polls, handled two severe floods of 2019 and 2021 and of course Covid pandemic. I learnt to manage thing, how to remain calm and mobilise teams for disaster management.

Q: What innovative experiments you made in the administration?

A: At Kinwat, tribals collected honey from jungles and sold it to traders. We provided them machinery, training and packing facility thereby developing Kinwat Honey brand which is still going strong.

As Bhandara collector, I developed integrated processing unit for tusser silk cloth.

Q: What is your assessment of situation in Aurangabad?

A: A lot of good work has already been done here. Trying to improve water supply situation would be my number one priority. Strengthening of the corporation itself is important. E-governance project has to be completed. Even now, many systems are working manually. Soon, I am planning to launch a uniform grievance redressal module wherein citizens can complain online about issues like drainage choke up, waste not collected and street lights. There will be provision of escalating the issue to higher authorities if not solved. Recovery of taxes, developing green spaces, and making new Development Plan are also on my agenda.