Former Ahmedabad Urban Dev Authority Chairman Takes Oath as Gujarat CM

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Two days after Vijay Rupani resigned, Bhupendra Patel was sworn in as the 17th Gujarat Chief Minister. The 59-year-old, who represents Ahmedabad’s Ghatlodia constituency, took oath at the Raj Bhavan. Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated Patel after the swearing-in ceremony. Soon after Patel took oath, PM Narendra Modi congratulated him for taking over as the CM. Patel is former chairman of the standing committee of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC). He has also served as the chairman of Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA). In 2010, soon after being elected as a councillor from Thaltej, he was elevated as AMC standing committee chairman. Back then, Ahmedabad was projected as the model for Gujarat’s progress by the then chief minister Narendra Modi. This was based on the implementation of Rs 2,700 crore worth of Jnnurm projects, Rs 1,100-crore BRTS project, the two phases of Rs 1,200-crore Sabarmati riverfront and social housing for weaker sections and last, but not the least, Ahmedabad’s entry into the Unesco’s tentative list of world heritage cities in 2011. He brought to the table a practical approach to dealing with people, budgets, and policy-making. It was this quality that led the BJP to continue him as the AMC chairman for four consecutive terms — the first in the history of AMC. His negotiating mettle was tested when development works in the newly acquired areas of new west zone — Prahladnagar, Bodakdev, Thaltej, Gota, Ghatlodia, Sarkhej, Sola and Jodhpur — were undertaken especially while new roads and drainage lines were being laid. In 2012, Patel won the then chief minister Narendra Modi’s appreciation when he suggested three consecutive impact fee cuts to popularise the building regularising scheme. He was also the force behind enrolling several societies under the PPP scheme for concretising private society roads and reparing street lights. Between 2015 and 2017 as AUDA chairman, Bhupendra Patel was pivotal in pushing forward several infrastructure projects, which includes flyovers, roads in Sanand and Bopal as well as civic infrastructure projects which helped BJP in the 2017 elections