Book on life experiences of former Pune Divisional Commissioner Dr Deepak Mhaisekar unveiled

Pune, May 7, 2023: ‘Atal-Avichal’, a book on the life experiences of former Pune Divisional Commissioner Dr Deepak Mhaisekar was released by MP and former Sikkim Governor Shriniwas Patil at Kale Hall of the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics on the BMCC Road on Sunday.

Former MLA Ulhas Pawar, former IAS officers and ex-Presidents of Akhil Bharataiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan Laxmikant Deshmukh and Bharat Sasane along with working President of Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad Prof Milind Joshi, and Arvind Patkar of Manovikas Prakashan, were present on the occasion.

Shriniwas Patil said an IAS officer has powers to change things for the good of the society and negativity should not creep into the cadre.

Dr Deepak Mhaisekar said he wrote the book as there is not much content available to the aspirants on getting selected in public service, whereas a lot is available for preparation of competitive exams and this book will give them an idea about how to handle situations as an administrative officer.

“I have avoided controversial subjects in the book, since there is a lot of negativity around us. Maybe in my future books, I will touch upon such subjects,” he said.

Dr Deepak Mhaisekar also recalled that former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray praised his work during the COVID-19 pandemic and asked him to work as his advisor. He also mentioned that the former CM responded to his call during late hours in the night during the pandemic. He further said during his tenure as a bureaucrat he did not compromise on his principles but avoided extreme stands and was committed to the common man.

Prof Milind Joshi said the common man must read the book to erase several misconceptions about bureaucrats and their style of working.

While Bharat Sasane termed the book as an insider’s view of a former bureaucrat, Laxmikant Deshmukh said the image of administrative officers is like “Cactus” but there are exceptions like Dr Deepak Mhaisekar.

Stressing that there was a dip in the quality of democracy, especially in the four fields regarded as its pillars, Ulhas Pawar opined that the prevalent trend of committed bureaucracy is not a good sign for a healthy democracy.

Arvind Patkar of Manovikas Prakashan, spoke about the problems pertaining to book sales and urged bureaucrats to support and encourage book buying to nurture and maintain the book reading habits. He appealed to top bureaucrats like District Collectors and ZP CEOs to start book counters in their office premises/complexes.

Emphasizing that Maharashtra does not have a robust book sale and distribution channel, Patkar said, “The state has only 42 book stores of ‘Lalit Sahitya’. In fact 20 districts in the state do not even have a bookstore. So, support from the bureaucracy for creating and maintaining a book reading culture is of paramount importance.”

Supriya Chitrav moderated the program.