Four months ago, when V Radha (33) came to head the civic administration’s predominantly male Octroi Department, many thought a woman would never be able to handle it. For, the department tha’s a money-spinner for the BMC is also among the most corrupt—the Octroi agents’ connivance with civic employees at the collection posts is almost legendary in a department that earns a whopping Rs 3,500 crore every year.

“I was very keen to take up a hardcore sector, in which women are not expected, like revenue, where there are numbers and figures. It is not believed to be a woman’s job. It was the same when I was appointed as the district collector, where you have to handle everything from administration to law and order,” says the joint municipal commissioner, who has since read the riot act to the Octroi agents.

Coming from a posting at the Pune-based training academy YASHADA, skill improvement is her focus area along with the crackdown on corruption, she says. Even as the conversation veers to bookshops near the BMC, Radha says: “Every cadre may not have access to books and other resources which give you ideas, so we are looking at training sessions for access to ideas.”

An Indian Administrative Service officer of the 1993 batch and originally from Andhra Pradesh, this mother of two has battled it out in districts and towns across Maharashtra. “The state has very nice people and they treat women with respect. It is utter rubbish that there is political pressure. If you explain to them why you are doing what you are doing, there is no problem,” she says.

It is little wonder then that across party lines, political representatives in the BMC demanded security for Radha after she received threats from the octroi mafia after her crackdown to curb evasion. She however believes in “soft power”, she says, rather than the more common arrogance of the bureaucracy. “It is not that I can’t use the power. But I want to convince them and win them over to agree with me so that they will do the work as their own,” she says.

“In the last six months, she has been able to crack down on over 50 per cent of the evasion at the nakas. Despite being a woman, she is leading the team from the front by working against the odds. We should appreciate her work and her willingness to take risks,” said Raj Hans Singh, opposition leader, BMC.

Every posting is a learning experience, Radha feels, and there is something to learn from each senior. “At each posting you are at the lowest point on the learning curve. You learn as the day progresses,” she says.

She likes getting into the details of everything, be it the menu for lunch at a training programme or the nitty-gritties of changes proposed in the assessment system for property tax. As she pores through a file a junior officer places in front of her, she reminds you of a demanding teacher inspecting a student's work. Every line is followed by a pen, and there is a discussion on every difference of opinion.

“I like to know the minutest details. I feel better,” says the woman who handles such diverse subjects like octroi, property tax, poverty alleviation and tackling issues of sexual harassment at the BMC.