Mumbai's Metro Man

Pravin Darade, newly-minted Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects), BMC, leaves behind a legacy that he will be remembered for – the ambitious Mumbai Metro project that he painstakingly oversaw in his erstwhile role as Additional Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA.

- Mitalee Kurdekar & Indrajeet Saoji

It’s finally happening. Mumbai is getting the infrastructural attention it deserves. With 13 metro rail lines in different stages of progress, the powers that be have finally acknowledged and – more importantly – acted upon the maximum city’s need for a more robust public mobility network. Of course, it has come at a price, and no man knows this better than the one who was brought in to helm this mega project, back in May 2016.

Pravin Darade, affectionately addressed as Mumbai’s Metro Man by his peers, is certainly passionate about the work he does. In just under three years as Additional Metropolitan Commissioner and Project Director (Mumbai Urban Transport Project), MMRDA (Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority), he has catapulted the Mumbai Metro project into the advanced stages. Even as he moves on to take on the mantle of Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects), BMC (Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation), he speaks fondly about the baby he has nurtured to infancy, stating with determination that the vital project must be completed in time so as to quickly and effectively ease the burden on Mumbai’s present infrastructure.