IAS officer Ashwini Bhide, who played a key role in developing Mumbai's metro rail network, became the first woman commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which was established more than 150 years ago on Tuesday.
The 1995-batch officer was the additional chief secretary in the chief minister’s office earlier.
She will also continue holding charge as managing director of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC).
The Mumbai civic body, set up in 1872, is one of the oldest local municipalities in India and is also the richest, boasting of a Rs 80,952 crore budget in the financial year 2026-27.
She took charge from senior bureaucrat and outgoing civic commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, who retired on Tuesday, at a ceremony at the BMC headquarters in south Mumbai in the evening.
She said her effort will be to improve public transport safety for women commuters.
The IAS officer served in the BMC as additional municipal commissioner (eastern suburbs) from May 9, 2020 to March 19, 2024, and contributed to the completion of the Mumbai coastal road (south) project.