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Six months in office, Patna Municipal Corporation commissioner Kuldip Narayan remained in the limelight from the very beginning of his tenure.
A 2005-batch IAS officer, Narayan initiated crackdown on unauthorised building construction activities following the directives of the high court. He also issued a slew of orders after taking charge, but they are yet to make much impact. His role in introducing the cyber age in the civic body, however, cannot be ignored. (See graphic)
Around six months ago, the civic body’s website was not functional. Now, any resident can access every letter and file that goes in and out of the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC) office. The civic body’s headquarters at the dilapidated Mauryalok Complex has Wi-Fi facility.
Much of the credit for the new cyber age at PMC goes to Narayan. But he has miles to go on several issues directly connected to the residents.
Most streets are still not swept daily. Sighting garbage heaps is common. The city still suffers from defunct drainage network. Streetlights are not functional in most areas and parking lots are still elusive.
“The PMC commissioner, Narayan, seemed to have remained pro-active and taken some good decisions, but not much change has taken place in Patna over the past six months. I know things were worse when he took over. But a common man measures the performance of the officers with the work on the ground,” said Ashok Ghosh, professor-in-charge, department of environment and water management, AN College, Patna.
Narayan took charge as the PMC commissioner on April 21. The people who have seen the functioning of the civic body from close are of the view that holding the position of the chief executive officer is a tough job. “PMC has always been a tough place to work for any bureaucrat. The commissioner not only has to work with limited sources of revenue but also with the elected representatives, including the mayor, who mostly oppose his actions,” said R.S. Chaudhary, retired chief town planner, urban development and housing department.
Those affected by Narayan’s orders in the past six months have demanded some relaxation. “If I start asking Rs 5 for every plastic bag, my customers would stop coming to my shop. The minimum price of bags should be reduced. As far as putting dustbins at the shops is concerned, I am game,” said Dharmendra Kumar, a shopkeeper at Fraser Road.
On his experience at the PMC, Narayan told The Telegraph: “We have been able to break the slumber but systematic improvement would be visible in another six months. Initially, my focus was on ‘clean and green Patna’ and several orders were issued in this regard. But a lull in their enforcement was observed in monsoon. From December, we will resume all the drives. We are also eyeing an improvement in the financial condition of PMC. Through measures like GIS mapping and property survey, we want to increase the property tax by four-fold in the next fiscal.”