EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION: A task of a decade, in 3 years!

Effective administration is when the public funds are best utilized in public cause without wasting money or time or lives. Here is how Senior IAS Prajakta Lavangare Varma faced several challenges and emerged victorious with her resolve, persistent efforts and out of the box thinking.

By Dr. Namrata Mishra Tiwari

‘PAPs (project affected persons) are not just numbers or assignments but humans, they need to see a human face of the administration,’ recalls Prajakta Lavangare Verma, the IAS officer who was instrumental in making the long drawn and the tough most land acquisition challenge before the state government-  for the Navi Mumbai airport -a grand success.

As Joint Managing Director, CIDCO (2016-2019) she is credited to have accorded a humane yet fast paced approach to the state government’s push for the long overdue second airport for the Megapolis Mumbai, at Navi Mumbai. The project affected people (PAPs) were worried over proper rehabilitation and issues concerning their future. The overall experience so far has been, that land acquisition matters tend to over stretch  much longer and act as a spanner in the speeding wheels of progress. The critics weren’t ready to give anything less than a decade for the land acquisition and rehabilitation to formalize. But, Ms. Prajakta Lavangare Verma took the responsibility of ten project affected crucial villages and the rehabilitation was over in a matter of just three years. Here’s another example. As the secretary, Marathi language department, she rephrased the state’s approach towards its main language and worked to stitch up a unifying mechanism for the several bodies that are scattered across the globe, spreading the fragrance of the language. For 2001 batch IAS Prajakta Lavangare Verma, reaching out – with a common man friendly approach – comes naturally. During a session with indiainput.com, we tried to make her talk on some of the major challenges during her career so far.

‘Everyday is equally challenging. At times, there can be challenges so  towering  that make you doubt yourself and ask, if the success is really going to materialize. A positive leadership has to make people see the real bigger picture and inspire. And reach out,’ she puts it calmly. Excerpts in her words :

CIDCO, a Maharashtra govt enterprise had been designated as special authority for land acquisition in those villages earlier in 1970s. The affected farmers and the others in those villages had to witness a not so perfect implementation of the acquisition package and  rehabilitation. While it was expected to be strictly on ‘first come – first served’ basis, yet, there were cases of some landowner villagers who came late yet got their cases settled earlier. There were other undesirable instances, so,  litigations got involved. Third party interests were also created. So many questions and issues meant a horrible wastage of time that caused inordinate delay in the project execution.

The rehabilitation scheme, most commonly referred to as ‘sade bara’ (twelve and a half), came much later in 1990s,  to ensure that  the farmers were not rendered landless. The scheme  promised a prime land, about 12.5 per cent of the land acquired from the said owner, to be handed  back to the landowner, as service land. In Navi Mumbai airport land acquisition, many had accepted the package offered and yet, were not moving out. There was mistrust between both the sides – the CIDCO and the beneficiaries. Besides, many other issues and angles etc. were involved that threatened to delay the project. On the face of it, putting in a lot of efforts seemed inevitable. Regaining their trust and confidence was the first and foremost challenge. It was a foregone conclusion in the local media that the acquisition and the rehabilitation for the Navi Mumbai airport project would require another atleast a decade to complete.

But, the tide turned and we could complete the process in just 3 years.

Soon after taking charge as CIDCO’s Joint Managing Director, I began making frequent visits to the ten affected villages. Initially, the efforts were aimed at solving the other issues concerning the villagers like skill based education, employment opportunities and raising the quality and quantity of the Anganwadi infrastructure etc. Of Course, there was pressure from the top to finish the matter faster. But, the task at hand also involved a range of humanitarian issues besides the main focus on the service plot. Needlessly rushing into early deadlines would have further complicated the matter. The government agreed to increase the service plot area from 12.5 to 22.5 per cent of the land acquired in each case. But, the villagers began coming with other issues and even  smaller complaints like -a corner ought not to be cut like this or into some smaller details of the land area. There were also real issues like incomplete electricity connection works. Obviously, a home is more than just a private space and no one wants to move in without proper basic necessities such as power supply. I told the top bosses that, the villagers can not be asked to move without proper amenities and no force or pressure be applied. People are not just assignments to be completed or projects to be done.  This definitely needed some more time and I took a firm stand.

Meanwhile, while investing a lot of time in separate  meetings with officials and  villagers, I had also  begun taking part in the local village festivals and yatras. The frequent visits, conversations and subsequent positive actions soon laid a solid positive foundation of trust and confidence. The beneficiaries had, by now, witnessed a sensitive human face of the administration which was something not experienced before. I had assured them, that yes, the project was very important for the nation, but it was not at their cost. They felt that they were no more being exploited and there was someone who was not their opponent, who instead, understood them well and was probably on their side.

If you have an honest and sincere approach, your kindness, warmth and compassion is seen, felt and experienced. It yields results.

There were also instances of undue or exhorbitant demands raised by some greedy elements. Like, asking for a crore of rupees for one village temple or asking their private temple to be rebuilt in a far more expensive way. This had to be tackled tactfully. I addressed to the saner minds, appealed to their hearts making them realise that this was the last mega project that could bring development and better opportunities. To make them realize how it could usher in good opportunities for asset building and ensuring better future for their children. I spoke to women as they are naturally more instinctive towards the issues concerning their children’s future. We also began work on imparting skill based education to the kids, matching their competencies.  I told the womenfolk, -Please, don’t just look at the land and the money. You must also think about the future prospects of employment and business for your kids, with the establishment of an airport there.  I also made it a point to not pay much attention to the negative elements. This approach yielded results in just about three years, much earlier than the critics had prophesied.

Effective Administration: Reaching out for Marathi

The various Marathi manch or mandals across the globe are geographically scattered in different time zones and usually are not linked together. An umbrella organization or a common platform for all these, can engage the Marathi diaspora effectively and help making Marathi language grow more and more popular world wide. Also, this can potentially cause many positive initiatives  to succeed in a shorter time span. As the secretary of Marathi language department, government of Maharashtra in 2020, I began work in this direction. The US embassy, for example, had the desire and funds to promote activities in different languages. For instance, to help people understand and accept the COVID appropriate behaviour.  We began reaching out wider to collect information about these Marathi organisations there and putting them on a common platform so that success could be achieved in  technology driven future initiatives. There are regional language labs in IITs and we tried to tie up with them, too.  Markets are also needed to chip in now with ideas like apps in Marathi or audiobooks etc.

Reviving the Nagpur Flying Club

One of the pioneering flying clubs in India’s civil aviation history, established during the British raj, the Nagpur Flying Club has had its shares of ups and downs. But it is important to realise that it can today help more students from SC, ST communities to train as commercial pilots and literally fly with their dreams. Toying with the idea of institutional sponsorships, we have begun reaching out to tie up with different like minded institutions like Mahajyoti and BARTI, says Prajakta Lavangare Verma, as the present divisional commissioner, Nagpur division.