Starting on a great note, the Government of Tamil Nadu, led by DMK, appointed Mr. Gagandeep Singh Bedi IAS as the Commissioner of Greater Chennai Corporation. This rank appointment is only the second time in the last 12 years that a Principal Secretary Rank Official heads Chennai Corporation after Mr. Vikram Kapur IAS.
Leading Chennai City is very complex, considering the whole gamut of cross-department overlaps from the Highways Department to many other line agencies. Appointing a senior-level official makes the political maturity & understanding of bureaucratic nuances by the DMK very evident.
Mr. Bedi is a 1993 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre and has good respect and reputation both inside and outside the bureaucracy. He has vast experience in implementing agriculture, urban and rural development, and water supply projects.
Mr. Gangandeep Singh Bedi is taking charge of Chennai Corporation when the city is facing the brunt of rising COVID-19 cases in the second wave. He has his first task cut-out already and will have little time settling. He is moving in at a time when the state’s finances are already reeling under pressure.
COVID response is not new to Mr. Bedi as he was the District Monitoring Officer for Cuddalore District (Additional Charge) before taking over this new role.
Some of the major projects that would need his attention other than the COVID response are the Smart Cities Project, the Solid Waste Project, Kosathalayar Storm Water Drain Project, and the Kovalam Basin Storm Water Drain Project. He is taking over the reins exactly before the Monsoon Season. This will give him lesser time to plan strategically and will have to work more tactically considering the shortage of time. The good thing however is the effort undertaken by the Greater Chennai Corporation in water body restorations and stormwater drains. This will reduce the load to a large extent.
The ring road project, the underground sewerage, over-bridges, and parks are some of the many works credited to Mr. Gangandeep Singh Bedi when he was the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Madurai from 1999 to 2001. His role in handling the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami received accolades from the Indian government, UN agencies, and the World Bank.
In the previous decade, he has led many departments like agriculture, animal husbandry, dairying, fisheries, and rural development for the past ten years.
He has received numerous awards from state and national government over the years.
Will he able to take stringent actions against wilful /deliberate unlawful deviations in building construction in the city of Chennai. Corrupt corporation officials not taking sincere actions based on complaint notices to GCOC and CMDA.