Deepak Kapoor appointed on MADC

Mumbai: The state govt on Friday appointed former IAS officer Deepak Kapoor as vice chairman and managing director of the Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC). Kapoor was an IAS officer of the 1991 batch and retired in April as additional chief secretary of Water Resources Department. Kapoor has been appointed for two years. MADC serves as the nodal state agency and initial planner for the proposed Vadhavan Airport in Palghar. It is driving the initial phases to establish this greenfield project as the third major airport for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).

Kapoor has headed the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR), served as CEO of SRA and was MADC vice chairman and managing director in the past.

Currently, the post was held by Indian Postal Service officer Swati Pandey. She has now been made joint managing director, citing ‘administrative reasons’. MADC is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) established in 2002 by the state govt to plan, construct, operate and maintain airports and aviation infrastructure across the state. It plays a critical role in boosting regional air connectivity and managing major techno-economic industrial zones. It is headed by CM Devendra Fadnavis.

In recent times, while several top bureaucrats have been given post-retirement assignments, former Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, who retired on March 31 this year, has not been picked for any post-retirement posting so far. A prominent 1990-batch IAS officer, Gagrani handled critical administrative and infrastructural bodies, including leading CIDCO, MIDC, and served as the principal secretary in the chief minister’s office (CMO) before being appointed BMC commissioner.

MADC is the nodal agency implementing the Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport (MIHAN) at Nagpur.

MADC floated the Request for Proposal (RFP) and officially commissioned the mandatory pre-feasibility study for the Vadhavan airport last year.