SIMPLI CITY

Born in one of the obscure areas of Maharashtra, Thane Municipal Corporation’s (TMC) Additonal Municipal Commissioner Mr. Sandeep Malvi has indeed come a long way. He says, “I was born in a village in Panhala and my birth place was and still is so remote that till date there is not even a single bus that goes to my home town.”

Switching schools became a routine for him as there were no schools in his village. He adds, “I studied in Ashram school in Pohale village till seventh standard. After that I moved to another village to complete my further studies. I joined a boarding school in Kolhapur and completed my 9th and 10th from there.” He is one of the six siblings. Having lost his father early, his mother, who was the only breadwinner burnt the midnight oil to meet both ends of the big family.

After completing his schooling, Mr. Malvi took admission in a junior college and while he was studying he took up a part time job in a restaurant to fund his education. While pursuing graduation, he worked part time with a roadside bhel puri vendor. He remembers, “It used to be embarrassing as my friends used to come there to eat. I knew I had no other option but to put my head down, rub off the embarrassment and continue working to finance my education.”

Juggling between academics and part-time jobs, he wrote poems to express himself. His poems were appreciated and were published in leading Marathi dailies like Sakal and Pudhari. “My poems which started as a means to express myself soon became my means of earning money. Taking confidence from that, I applied to various newspapers for a job. Finally I got one with Daily Nav Sandesh. My first salary as a journalist was Rs. 75 per month. I learnt a lot there. It was a small newspaper and that is why I got a chance to try my hand at different things like writing editorial, news reporting, to name a few. Being a big fish in a small pond is better than being a small fish in a big pond”, he elucidates.

After his stint with Daily Nav Sandesh, Mr. Malvi joined Dainik Samaj and later was a part of Tarun Bharat. He mentions, “Working for Tarun Bharat was a turning point in my life. I got a chance to interview some of the well-known people and cover a grand event like Asian Games in Pune.”

Since he had not studied journalism formally, Mr. Malvi decided to pursue graduation in journalism from Shivaji University. While he was studying, he got an opportunity to work with Pudhari. He states, “Given that I had some experience in journalism, at Pudhari I was in-charge of the layout of the front page as well as the news editing part of that page. Working alongside studying helped me as I completed my course as a topper in Maharashtra. After that I went to Pune to complete my masters.”

From Pune, Mr. Malvi came to Thane, thanks to Mrs. Meenal Mohadikar, an entrepreneur who used to conduct exhibitions of small scale cottage industries products back then. Coming closer to the city of dreams was challenging. “I used to stay in a slum with my sister. I worked with Lokprabha magazine. Under Pradeep Vermaji’s guidance I learnt a lot. Alongside that, I started an agency by the name of Anand Features Services under the guidance of veteran journalist late Smt. Pushpa Trilokekar and provided feature articles to several newspapers”, he says.

Over the years, Mr. Malvi developed a liking for investigative journalism. Through his work, he wanted to make a difference in society. In pursuit of that, he started preparing for the civil services examination. He cleared MPSC in 2001 and started working as a class 1 officer.  One of his first assignments was at Maharashtra state AIDS Control Society as a joint director and state head for IEC activities. He describes, “I came up with an out of the box idea to create HIV awareness. It was that time of the year when the devotees of Lord Vitthal go to Pandharpur and I thought of spreading the awareness using Pandharpur wari as a medium. It turned out to be a grand success.”

After serving as a class 1 officer for four years, Mr. Malvi became a part of TMC. He started his journey as a strategic PR officer under the leadership of the then TMC Commissioner Sanjay Sethi. Through his service, he strived to strengthen the communication between the municipal corporation and citizens. Being a journalist himself, he carried out his responsibilities to the best of his abilities. He was one of the first in any municipal corporation to provide ready to use press notes to journalists. This gave TMC good coverage in newspapers and the citizens became more and more aware about the work done by the civic body. Many other municipal corporations across Maharashtra started following Mr. Malvi’s footsteps in this regard. Apart from the press notes, he played an instrumental role in revamping the way conventional advertisements of TMC were given out to the publishing houses. TMC advertisements garnered appreciation across the state. For his exemplary service in the PR department, he won many accolades from the state government.

Honesty, transparency, risk taking ability and selfless service are some of the attributes that are associated with Mr. Malvi. The officer, over the last two decades has worked in several departments. He avers, “For me, the most challenging department that I have worked in has been the anti-encroachment department. I vividly remember one instance when I was assigned the responsibility of the Mumbra building collapse, which nobody was willing to take. Thanks to my journalism background, I could understand the pulse of the citizens and resolve the issue effectively. I am also grateful to my bosses and friends, who have always stood by me.”

At present, Mr. Malvi is the Additional Municipal Commissioner of TMC. Under his able aegis, the Thane Municipal Transport (TMT) department yielded rich dividends as the daily revenues saw a whopping 80% growth from Rs. 18 lakhs to Rs. 32 lakhs. As a part of his job, he is out there in the field, inspecting and monitoring the current and upcoming development projects. He says, “It is important to go out and inspect the work that is being carried out personally. Only maps don’t help. For instance, potholes have been a common problem over the years. I have ensured that the traffic constables with whom I have interacted provide me and the corporation with substantial inputs to resolve the issue.”

As an officer, Mr. Malvi has highlighted his priorities. He posits, “Cleanliness and beautification are my top priorities. I want to make Thane like Indore, which is the cleanest city of India. Waste management is of essence here. Just like Mauritius, my aim is that Thane becomes a ‘no honking city’. Apart from these, I want to emphasize on the importance of clusters and optimal use of resources.” During these testing times of COVID-19, under the guidance of guardian minister of Thane Shri. Eknath Shinde, Cabinet Minister for Housing Dr. Jitendra Avhad, Mayor of Thane Shri. Naresh Mhaske and Municipal Commissioner Dr. Vipin Sharma, Mr. Malvi and his team have ensured that the pandemic is kept at bay in the lake city. He adds, “With our mass testing and mass vaccination efforts, we were able to keep Thane at Level 2.”

Apart from being a hard core civil servant and journalist by passion, Mr. Malvi loves literature and music. He has written many poems and ghazals too. He says, “Gazalnawaj Shri. Bhimrao Panchale and Kaushal Inamdar have sung my ghazals.” Also his songs are sung by famous musician and singer Shankar Mahadevan, famous playback singer Kailash Kher, Mahalaxmi Iyer, Avdhoot Gupte, Swapnil Bandodkar and Ravindra Sathe. Well-known litterateur Madhu Mangesh Karnik, former Chief Minister Shri. Vilasrao Deshmukh and Shri. Sushilkumar Shinde have released his ghazal books.” His contributions in literature were awarded with Maharashtra Sahitya Gaurav Puraskar. Currently he is in the process of writing a novel.

Mr. Sandeep Malvi, whose humble beginnings did not deter him from achieving something big is a true testament of hard work and determination. “You always start from where you are and with what you have. Try to make something big out of it. Never ever give up in life. Education can only improve your life. It changed my world so I make sure that now when I am on the other side of the table, I help those who want to pursue education”, concludes Mr. Malvi.