GOV ADMINISTRATOR
IN FOCUS
IN Ajay FOCUS Shankar - Ajay Shankar
Pandey, Pandey IAS 2005 Batch, DM
IAS Ghaziabad 2005 Batch,
DM Ghaziabad
Passionate
catalyst
Passion opens up something special
inside of us, bringing out many of our
best traits and talents; Ghaziabad DM
proves this dictum.
Providing a smooth citizenfriendly
administration in
a district like Ghaziabad
has always been challenging for
successive District Magistrates for
different reasons. However, the
tempo set by Ms Reetu Maheshwari
during her 22-month stint is
now being swiftly peddled by her
successor Ajay Shankar Pandey who
took the reins of the district in July
last year.
Mr Pandey’s focus, on
transparency in governance and
delivering hassle-free citizen –
centric services to the people,
besides striking a balance between
urban and rural development, has
made him a darling of the people of
By Jay P Gupta
all hues in the district.
His innovative idea of putting
a Black Box in which aggrieved
citizens could drop their complaints
against any official in the district has
been highly hailed.
The box was installed last
December at the DM’s office and itn
received over two dozen complaints
of graft till date.
He has taken up many initiatives
in the last six months after assuming
the charge of the office. When the
issue of fee-hike by the private
schools in the district surfaced, he
directed the school management to
include parents’ associations in the
decision making exercise, failing
which the district administration
was free to take an ex-parte
decision against the erring school
managements.
Addressing traffic congestion,
climatic pollution and waste
management has also been in the
priority list of Mr Pandey. He has
demonstrated his commitment by
a very bizarre act when he imposed
monetary fine on himself for
wasting water in the collector office
or on another occasion when tea
was served to him and other officials
in his office in a plastic cup.
Prior to his new posting, Pandey
served as the Muzaffarnagar
DM. He also served as the officer
on special duty with Rajasthan
Governor Kalyan singh.
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February 2020 | www.smartgovernance.in