Haryana Govt Appoints New Municipal Commissioner for Gurugram, Months Before Elections

The Haryana government has appointed Phool Chand Meena as the new commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) as well as the special duty officer for the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA).

Mukesh Kumar Ahuja, who was appointed in June 2021 for the post, will be replaced by Meena, who served as managing director of the state power company DHBVN.

Meena was one among the nine IAS officers and ten HCS officers that were transferred on Sunday in Haryana. He will be succeeded at DHBVN by Amit Khatri, the former deputy commissioner of Gurgaon who was on study vacation till October 2022.

Ahuja was appointed the state agriculture marketing board's chief administrator, and will now take over his duties as managing director of Haryana Medical Services Corporation Ltd.

The outgoing commissioner joined mcg on June 8, 2021. In December of last year, while he was mayor, the civic organization began work on the new office building in Vyapar Sadan.

Eight private colonies were also taken up by the corporation. However, the acquisition of DLF phases 1, 2, and 3 is still pending.

Additionally emphasizing waste segregation, he also launched a drive to collect segregated trash at doorways. Despite his attempts, the city was unable to attain 100% garbage segregation, but this year it improved its Swachh Survekshan ranking from 24 to 19.

Meanwhile, Meena has served in Gurugram before. He has been the deputy commissioner in the city in 2011, commissioner of the MCG in 2013, and administrator of the HUDA (formerly the HSVP) in 2014. Though, his recent appointment came just a few months before the state assembly elections.

With the fresh appointment, Meena's first task will be to resolve the conflict around the demographic survey, which has drawn criticism from a number of council members and MLAs in Haryana. Residents have also reported incorrect property IDs, which need to be fixed.

Meena, who was brought up in Rajasthan's Sikar, worked for the railroads from 1999 to 2003 after earning an electrical engineering degree from the Delhi College of Engineering in 1998. He passed out as an IPS in 2003 and IAS the following year.