Durganand Minz at his office in Ranchi. Picture by Hardeep Singh

At 32, Durganand Minz, the Ranchi Regional Development Authority town planner, has eight years of illustrious work experience.

-Minz, a former deputy town planner at Mumbai Regional Development Authority, has done his graduation in architecture from Regional Engineering College (now NIT) Bhopal. He has a postgraduate degree in urban and regional planning from Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad.

Minz has worked under famous architect Balkrishna Doshi among others. He rates his supervision over the construction of the National Stock Exchange in New Delhi and Bandra-Kurla Complex in Mumbai as his worthwhile professional experiences.

Minz was awarded the Prime Minister?s award for excellence in urban planning while working with Doshi, and the Louis I. Khan award for architectural excellence. As a student he was awarded the National Association of Students of Architecture award for architectural excellence for three consecutive years. This was a joint award, which he won along with his mates at REC Bhopal.

Minz wants to be the chief town planner of Jharkhand, the state where he was born and brought up. He spoke to S. Shekhar about his plans for improving the civic amenities of the state capital.-

After having worked for big projects, how is it like working at a place which does not have even the basic civic amenities like sewerage system?

It?s very surprising that the state capital does not have even a master plan. The RRDA still functions on the basis of a master plan prepared in 1983. When I go through the plan I find that every aspect mentioned in the 22-year-old plan has become redundant. First of all I intend to develop a master plan for Ranchi.

There have been allegations that you enjoy special rapport with a section of the BJP and the chief minister. Is this the reason that you are occupying one of the most high profile posts?

I am here because of my abilities. I did approach the chief minister directly for an appointment as RRDA town planner but then, whether my case deserves to be considered was all decided on the basis of my merit.

As the grapevine goes, occupants of high positions in the RRDA have either had strong political contacts or have had tainted track records. How has your appointment been different?

I do not think I have any political contacts. My calibre has not been recognised for the first time. I was made the deputy town planner of Mumbai Regional Development Authority at quite a young age. Who supported me there? Looking at my qualifications, what else I could have cherished other than being the town planner of my state?

As an architect what exactly do you find wrong with the layout of Ranchi? How can it be improved?

Ask me what?s right with the layout of Ranchi and you will find me looking for answers. I should not be harsh as a government servant but then a lot has to be done to get the state capital?s infrastructure back on track. The construction of high-rise buildings has been completely unplanned. To improve it, a master plan is required at first. Then an in-depth study needs to be carried out for understanding the immediate civic needs here. A qualified and experienced professional should be hired for the purpose.

There have been repeated reports of the RRDA taking more than the required amount of time to approve building plans.

When I joined office in November last year there were at least 500 to 600 building plans pending with the state government. Some had been pending for as long as two years. According to the RRDA Act, a plan should be sanctioned within four months. Those proposals have recently been cleared. Former RRDA vice-chairman Shashi Ranjan Kumar and I took it up as a mission and have been able to clear up the backlog. I would say that whether building plans are approved in time or not depends on the officials heading the organisation.

What are the other problems that hit the RRDA at present?

Manpower shortage is a major problem. The present hierarchy at the RRDA includes the RRDA chairman, its vice-chairman, the town planner, four assistant engineers and 13 junior engineers. To efficiently handle the workload, we require professionals such as junior town planners, architects, draftsmen, surveyor among others. There is the funds crisis also.

Talking of funds crisis, the RRDA was refused its share in stamp duties for land registration last year by the state government. Do you have some specific plans in this regard?

One of the best ways to handle the situation would be taking up any project jointly by organisations like the RRDA, JSEB and departments like building construction. Projects can be arrived out through grants and loans. When, say, the construction of bridge, park or whatever the project be, is complete, a comfortable toll tax can be imposed on it. The premium on the amount collected can be distributed among the party organisations.

When will the new master plan take shape?

The old plan is redundant now. We want to prepare a new master plan that would have space for everything ? green land, parks, sewerage channels and other civic amenities. But I cannot tell you when this plan will be complete.