FEBRUARY 2014

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.”
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