Gurgaon: Pankaj, a 2020-batch IAS officer, took charge as commissioner of MCG on Thursday. Before this posting, Pankaj served as commissioner of the Panipat municipal corporation and municipal commissioner of Panipat.Outlining his priorities, he said improving sanitation, curbing pollution, strengthening grievance redress, improving property tax collection and ensuring dust-free roads would be among his key focus areas.He directed officials to keep a close watch on incidents of waste burning and take necessary action to prevent such occurrences. He made it clear that achieving the goal of a clean and pollution-free city would require all concerned departments to work with seriousness and in close coordination.Before this posting, Pankaj served as commissioner of the Panipat municipal corporation and district municipal commissioner of Panipat.Originally from Rewari, Pankaj completed his MBBS at PGIMS Rohtak in 2014 and then worked in critical care at PGI Rohtak for a year, until 2015. He served in IPS from 2018 to 2020, before joining IAS in 2020.Pankaj said he had two sets of priorities, short-term and long-term, with pollution and waterlogging among the key long-term ones.“Pollution and waterlogging will be among my key long-term priorities. We will focus on measures that are within our control, such as reducing road dust, curbing the open burning of waste and taking other steps in compliance with CAQM norms,” he told TOI.“On waterlogging, we aim to formulate solutions within the next three months so that they can be implemented before the next monsoon season. Our objective is to significantly reduce both the number of waterlogging hotspots and the duration for which water accumulates in vulnerable areas. We will work towards bringing down the number of hotspots from around 150 to 50,” he added.In the short term, Pankaj said, the focus would be on public service delivery and prompt grievance redress. He said merely disposing of complaints was not enough. “Officials must maintain a cordial and cooperative attitude towards public representatives and ordinary citizens. They should meet people regularly, listen to their grievances and establish better communication with them. Officials must ensure that the underlying problems are genuinely and satisfactorily resolved,” he added.“We will also focus on routine civic issues. For instance, we will work towards ensuring that there are no stray cattle on roads, an initiative we had successfully implemented in Panipat,” he said.He instructed officials to take prompt action on complaints received through various platforms, including Mhari Sadak, CM Window and social media.The commissioner said all development projects and other works undertaken by MCG must be completed within the prescribed timelines, with special attention to the quality of work and no unnecessary delays. He instructed officials to regularly review the progress of works under their respective jurisdictions and discharge their responsibilities diligently to ensure timely and quality execution.
