MOPALWAR: AN ADMINISTRATOR, ARCHITECT, LEADER ALL ROLLED INTO ONE

A state or a city can undergo a sea change for better beyond recognition only if it is blessed to have just one competent, honest, selfless and efficient bureaucrat who works tenaciously for the society.   Former IAS officer, Radheshyam Mopalwar, is the bureaucrat who matches these descriptions. And the state that has witnessed massive infrastructure growth owing to his contributions is Maharashtra. Mopalwar, a 1995 batch IAS officer who is now working as DG War Room Infrastructure Projects in Maharashtra after retirement, closely understood the complexities of the problems hindering the growth of the state. He worked hard in close coordination with his colleagues and other bureaucrats to do away with the obstacles in the way of successful completion of infrastructure projects.

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A close look at the projects that have been done under his supervision will give a clear idea about Mopalwar’s working style and his trademark style of operation. He played several roles at a time while discharging his duties in any department. He was an architect, bureaucrat, administrator, leader, tenacious planner all rolled into one.   Even today, Mopalwar is said to be a man of details and a meticulous planner in Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s war room. Planning as well as implementation of all the infrastructure projects is unthinkable without Mopalwar. He plans like an architect, leads the team like an able leader and executes projects like a tenacious worker having expertise. He is a man of the network as well. He reaches out to the officials posted in New Delhi to get the projects and related works sanctioned and approved by the Central government. Mopalwar’s quality to communicate his ideas quite well helps him in persuading the officers in this regard. Observers say that Mopalwar has extraordinary skill of coordination that helps him use the network of bureaucrats across the state to execute any piece of project. Mopalwar’s handling of the project of 701-km-long Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway, also known as Maharashtra Samruddhi Mahamarg (MSM) has been a glaring example of his immense skills at planning, implementation, and coordination. It was Mopalwar, who as MSRDC VC and MD, planned the entire project that connects 10 districts, 26 talukas and 392 villages. It proposed to reduce the current travel time between Nagpur and Mumbai of 16 hours to eight hours. Maharashtra watchers inform that Mopalwar had explained every single phase and step of the project with convincing inputs to all engineers, architects and technicians.   This one project only is sufficient to highlight all positive traits of veteran bureaucrat Mopalwar.

CM Shinde only a month ago reviewed the project of Metro Corridors in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur, asking the officials to speed up this project and all other pending infrastructure projects in Maharashtra. Mopalwar was the key man during the discussion and review. Key projects such as Eastern Expressway and Western Expressway also figured during the review meeting with Mopalwar only official to explain what will facilitate the early implementation of the project. More than a dozen metro rail projects are in various stages of construction in the financial capital of Mumbai, the winter capital of Nagpur and IT capital and industrial hub of Pune. Mopalwar is said to have handled the land acquisition task successfully. He is also monitoring various components of these projects closely, sharing his perspective and updates with the Chief Minister. Of the nine metro corridors for which work is underway in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), two are expected to open by 2024, five by 2025 and another 2 by 2026.

Even though the departments concerned are involved in these projects, the Maharashtra War Room is closely monitoring these works to ensure their time-bound completion. Radheshyam Mopalwar is always on his toes, keeping a tab over the development related to every single project like this. Infrastructure continues to be the priority of the Maharashtra government. A new 760-km expressway connecting Nagpur with Sindhudurg bordering Goa and a new passenger terminal at Shirdi airport have been announced. The government is obviously looking towards Mopalwar for this project too. Mopalwr’s handling of Maharashtra Samruddhi Marg gives the government immense confidence. Around 88 per cent of the MSM has already been completed. Mopalwar, a bureaucrat known for his devotion and dedication while handling any piece of infrastructure work, will live up to the expectations of the state government on other projects like this.

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