The next officer who will replace Ashwani Kumar as PMPML chief is Nitesh Kumar Khade, formerly the chief executive officer of Akola district.

According to PMPML records, in the last 12 years, the post has changed hands 16 times. There have been several ad hoc officers posted from the PMC as well. These include Arun Patil and D S Rajurkar, b oth additional municipal commissioners, who were given charge of the then Pune Municipal Transport for two to three months in the 1990s. Another additional municipal commissioner M N Kerkatta who was twice given the additional charge of heading PMT — once for eight months in August, 2006, and again for three months in March, 2007.

Activists have argued for a fixed tenure of minimum three years for the PMPML chief’s post as it takes an officer at least six months to one year to understand the complexities involved.

Incidentally, Kumar’s transfer comes after a few weeks after Guardian Minister Ajit Pawar called the performance of PMPML less than satisfactory and said that he will personally supervise the search for an efficient officer.