Mrs. Ashwini Bhide, IAS.
Managing Director, MMRC
Mrs. Ashwini Bhide, an IAS officer from the batch of 1995 of Maharashtra cadre, is a post-graduate in English Literature from Pune University. She was ranked first among women candidates in Civil Service Examination in year 1995.
Ms Ashwini Bhide has helmed some of the most ambitious, complex and mega urban infrastructure projects in the city of Mumbai - Coastal Road project as AMC of BMC, Mumbai Metro Line 3 as MD of MMRC, Eastern Freeway, the elevated road to International Airport, several flyovers on major arterial roads and rail over bridges including Milan ROB as well as the first phase of Mumbai Monorail in her stint with MMRDA.
As Additional Municipal Commissioner of BMC, she heads departments such as Information Technology, Coastal Road Project, Fire Brigade & Rescue Operations, Education, Gardens, Zoo, Heritage Cell, Building Construction & Maintenance. She has been driving several IT initiatives at BMC in the recent years. She was also the Head of BMC’s COVID19 Response War Room where several digital initiatives were rapidly implemented, including the Daily Dashboards which were recognised at national as well as at international level. She has also spearheaded creation of several Miyawaki style urban dense forests across Mumbai.
In a career of 25+ years, Ms Ashwini Bhide has held key positions such as CEO in Zilla Parishad, Additional Divisional Commissioner, Joint Secretary to the Governor of Maharashtra, Additional Metropolitan Commissioner in MMRDA, Secretary in School Education and Sports and MD of MMRC ie Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. She believes in the power of innovative, practical, scalable and sustainable solutions. Very early in her career, she saw the potential of simple, cost effective and rapidly implemented weirs to effectively drive water conservation, and basis the impact of her drive, the initiative came to be recognised as “Vanraai Bandhaare” at state level, benefiting several farmers and livestock.
Mrs. Bhide currently heads the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation which is a 50:50 JV of GOI and GOM. Metro Rail Corporation is executing Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ Metro Line 3. Mumbai Metro Line 3 is part of Mumbai Metro Master Plan (357 km network consisting 14 Metro corridors) prepared by Government of Maharashtra (GoM). Line 3 is 33.5 km long fully underground Metro corridor with 27 (26 Underground + 1 At grade) stations and connects major CBDs and employment centers, Domestic and International terminals of Airport and several areas, which are not served by Suburban Railways. It is expected to carry 17 lakh passengers per day. Over all estimated cost of the project is Rs. 23,136 crores, out of which Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide a loan assistance of Rs. 13,235 crores. Project is scheduled to be completed in the year 2023-24