Tukaram Mundhe back to the forefront

Mumbai: Barely a week into his new assignment as Maharashtra’s Commissioner of Food & Drugs Administration (FDA), no-nonsense IAS officer Tukaram H. Mundhe has started cracking the whip.

In an unprecedented surgical strike following the Pune spurious liquor tragedy that claimed 18 lives, Mundhe moved with his characteristic speed. Hours after the disaster, FDA teams swooped on the godown of Rex International, a Bhiwandi-based supplier of industrial methanol allegedly linked to the Pune illicit liquor mafia.

They seized nearly 6 tonnes of the toxic chemical lodged criminal cases with the Narpoli Police Station, ordered arrests and initiated process to cancel the company’s license.

The operation – first for the FDA in a police matter by invoking a little-known law – was typical of Mundhe’s administrative career punctuated with 25 transfers – intervention at jet-speed, ruthless enforcement and uprooting vested interests, unmindful of the likely political repercussions

As the states’ industrial and chemical ecosystem panicked, now the FDA chief has ordered a thorough scrutiny of more than 950 licensed users of industrial methanol across the state and warned of stern action against violators.

“The FDA will adopt zero-tolerance towards anyone found endangering public health. Safe food and medicines are the fundamental rights of every citizen,” Mundhe declared after the operation.

Tough Question

For many in Maharashtra’s bureaucracy, the developments have revived a familiar but uncomfortable question: whether Mundhe is an underdog and one of the state’s most underutilised talents.

After repeated attempts The Perfect Voice could not reach to Mundhe for comments.

In 21 years as an IAS officer, Mundhe has earned a formidable reputation – one who views governance not merely as administration but as system-building. Colleagues describe his working philosophy in four words: “Question, pause, change and improve.”

Wherever posted, Mundhe attempted to identify structural weaknesses, redesigned processes and created institutions capable of delivering long-term public benefits. Though adored by the masses, critics accused him of undue haste or upsetting established arrangements.

Highest Transfers

After 25 transfers, currently the highest for any serving IAS officer in the country, Mundhe has kept quiet and hugged the next posting, treating it as a ‘challenge’. Nevertheless, he is known to have privately rued how the constant shuffles are frustrating and prevent him from making long-lasting impact on any posting.

“With his people-centric approach he wants to strong build systems and institutions that outlast individuals. But this requires stability and continuity, that always eludes him,” said a senior bureaucrat and Mundhe’s former colleague.

Those who have observed him minutely praised his efforts to modernise and improve even non-decrepit sectors like animal husbandry. They recall an occasion when he questioned the babu-dom why Maharashtra - despite its huge agricultural base – had to depend on other states for massive daily supplies of eggs and poultry products.

“He always focused on productivity, self-sufficiency and creating economic ecosystems rather than merely managing departments. His strengths go far beyond routine administration and he is made out for bigger things,” an ex-Deputy CM had once remarked.

For building systems and institutions, such dedicated officers need time, and with a decent tenure, and he has the potential to transform an entire sector, be it health, education, urban development or infrastructure and public service delivery, he explained, recalling Mundhe’s early years in service.

Execution Ability

A former union minister from Maharashtra noted the officer’s unusual combination of administrative discipline, financial prudence and timely execution capability – all of which remain unexploited and squandered in ordinary postings, yet he made a mark in them.

One of the rare and gutsy officers who challenged entrenched interests, he was bogged down by criticism (“he does not listen to anyone”), legal cases, scurrilous charges, wild canards or calculated whispered narratives that put him at loggerheads with political power centres or bureaucratic heirarches – though he was doted by the people.

In his new ‘avatar’ as the state’s food and drugs regulator, he has heralded his arrival with a big bang with the Methanol crackdown, and the next on his radar would be food adulterators, fake medicines, allegations of counterfeit drugs doled out by certain online players plus other public health violations.

A question disturbing many in the administration is whether the state – the CM decides on all IAS level reshuffles – would finally allow one of its high-profile officers settle down with sufficient time and space to create a lasting impression - or take another shortcut vide a transfer.

Hurt, but stoic

A fiercely private person despite his onerous public responsibilities, Tukaram H. Mundhe reportedly rues the frequent transfer orders but keeps going with his family support.

He confided to an official how such transfers - the earliest of which happened when Ashok Chavan was the CM - “don’t allow a chance to build systems or institutions and implement them for long-term public benefits”, as his career nears the two-thirds mark.

Years ago, he had a master-plan to convert Pandharpur into a tourism hub with a project similar to the recently-shelved Nagpur-Goa Shaktipeeth Expressway.

The official claimed it could have been implemented at a fraction of the cost and time, but lacked political sanction. In fact, he purportedly requested a six-month extension to set the project rolling but was spurned.