With civic elections due in February 2022, the Shiv Sena is getting down to planning its comeback. A top leader said that only senior corporators are assured of seats, and the rest would be given tickets based on their performance. In the 2017 polls, the Shiv Sena and BJP were neck-and-neck with 84 seats and 82 seats, respectively. This time, Shiv Sena has set a target of winning 120 seats.
IAS officer Nidhi Chaudhari’s transfer from Raigad 20 months after she was posted there as district collector has surprised many. She was the stoic face of the government in a district battered by natural calamities — two cyclones, flooding and landslides due to heavy rain — since June 2020, and she shouldered her responsibilities without flinching. She is now Director, IT, at Mantralaya.
IPS transfers in Maharashtra have been delayed because of three or four IG-rank posts in Mumbai and Thane, on which there is no consensus among the Maha Vikas Aghadi partners. Each party is pushing the names of its own favoured candidates.
Dr T P Lahane, who retired as medical education director in June, has joined the J J group of hospitals in the ophthalmology department again. He had worked in the hospital earlier as an eye surgeon, head of ophthalmology, and later as dean of JJ. He has now been appointed professor. “As usual, I will check the patients on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 am to 12 noon,” he said.