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REDEFINING GOVERNANCE Midas Touch » BIPIN Pratyaya Amrit, Secretary, Road Construction department, and Information and Public Relations department with the Bihar government, has become a household name in the state. He is better known as the man who transformed the road infrastructure in Bihar, dubbed as the worst in India not long back. He is the one in whom Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has great faith and has been entrusting with crucial responsibilities. Amrit, who was on deputation to the Centre, was called to his cadre state Bihar in 2006 after Nitish Kumar took over as Chief Minister. He returned to Bihar to take up the challenge as Managing Director of the Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam (BRPNN), a corporation on the verge of liquidation. Riddled with corruption and no work, the corporation was waiting to be wound up as a loss making unit of the state government. As head of the corporation, he was supposed to supervise its liquidation. However, Amrit, 44, had a different idea. When he went through the causes that led to the collapse of the corporation, that he felt was vital for Bihar’s growth, he found there were hardly any orders and new work and even the engineering staff was not willing to take up new projects. He started interacting with his staff and encouraged them to start work on some Amrit simply led his staff to work on fixed deadlines and deliver. As projects started taking shape and completion before deadlines became the norm, the confidence of the staff grew and so did that of the people who started realising the benefits of a good road infrastructure Meet Pratyaya Amrit » Delhi University topper in History » An IAS officer of the 1991 batch, Bihar cadre » Both the parents are lecturers » As DM of Chapra, he banned sleaze shows at the famous Sonpur fair (Asia’s largest cattle fair) and made it mandatory for the installation of CCTVs in theatres of the unfinished projects that had been virtually written off. Meanwhile, he convinced the Chief Minister and the state government and got some new projects that could improve Bihar’s road connectivity. Amrit simply led his staff to work on fixed deadlines and deliver. As projects started taking shape and completion before deadlines became the norm, the confidence of the staff grew and so did that of the people who started realising the benefits of a good road infrastructure. Gradually, contractors small and big, who had deserted Bihar and migrated to other states, started coming back. Some undertook road projects in the state and found the environment in the government department entirely different – the bureaucracy was responsive, sympathetic and was acting as a facilitator wanting to get projects through within stipulated deadlines. Thus, the story of bridges and roads was scripted in Bihar. As infrastructure improved, employment avenues too increased and investments started flowing in. Suddenly, Bihar had woken up and was ready to shed its backward tag. An elated Amrit told POINT OUT, “The change has been possible due to confidence reposed in us by the Chief Minister. He backed us fully when all had written off the department and the state as well. It feels great to be part of a team that is rewriting Bihar’s development history.” He adds, “At the Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam (BRPNN), I was allowed to function without a change for over three-and-half years and this stability ensured that I could drive the staff and take the best out of them. To be fair, the employees too toiled hard and the results are for all to see.” He also promoted the concept of public-private partnership that is driving several crucial projects in the state. Road density in Bihar has gone up from 111 km per lakh population in 2008 to 127 km. Though, it is still way below the national average of 322.7 km per lakh population, the state is among the best performers and catching up fast. Under his leadership, road length in Bihar has seen a roughly 25% increase in the past year. As the road infrastructure has improved, Prataya Amrit is dreaming big – he is now planning for overhaul and is driving the building of tunnels and basic infrastructure, apart from roads and bridges in rural areas through outsourcing. With success have come awards and recognition. His biggest moment came in 2012 when he became the only IAS officer in the country picked up by the Government of India for the Prime Minister's Excellence Award in Public Administration 2011. His citation sums it up well: “Bridging the gap: For turning around a dying Bihar State Bridge Construction Corporation into a profit-making unit.” 41
POINT OUT : VILLAGE ROOTS » PUNSARI, GUJARAT Showing the way » AARTI Can you dream of a village with well laid out roads, its own public transport system, equipped with solar lamps, with Wi-Fi connectivity, CCTVs at all important places and air-conditioned classrooms for children. Forget village, most of the metro cities in the country cannot boast of such amenities. This is a real story of Punsari village in Gujarat. The village, an obscure village like any other in the country, got together when it elected a young educated and exuberant Himanshu Narendra Bhai Patel as the village sarpanch. Himanshu told POINT OUT, “My mantra was simple governance and effective utilization of resources from the Centre and state.” People entrusted me with leadership at a young age, says Patel, in his early 30s, adding that “I wanted to make it a model » Punsari Village: Gateway towards Development 42 FEBRUARY 2014
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