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15. My fifteenth posting - Additional District Magistrate & DLLRO, Howrah
15. My fifteenth posting - Additional District Magistrate & DLLRO, Howrah
Assumption of office, background & working environment
I joined as the Additional District Magistrate & District Land & Land Reforms Officer (DLLRO), Howrah, in the cadre of the IAS on October 16, 1995, without a change of residence. I was new to the land reforms establishment. I did not also have training in Settlement [1]. The Settlement set-up had been integrated with the Land Reforms set up after I had left the district administration in 1980.
As the District Land & Land Reforms Officer (DLLRO), I was in independent charge of the District Land and Land Reforms administration. LR offices dealt with all land and land revenue (excluding Land Acquisition). LR officers had to deal with the public in land matters daily. There was ample scope for corruption. Many LR officers did not also have a good service reputation. I, therefore, had to be vigilant to keep them in control.
An instance of corruption beyond my knowledge
Despite my vigilance, there was an instance where a few corrupt officers, including one of the district office, formed a clique and acted contrary to the public interest for personal gain. I was kept totally in the dark until it became a fait accompli. Later, some officers, including a couple in the State secretariat, tried to protect this coterie of officers either not understanding the full import of the happenings or out of malice. They tried to shift the responsibility to the District Land & Land Reforms Officer. But that attempt was foiled when I divulged all the background materials and demanded an independent inquiry by an authority not associated with the matter at any stage. I was not aware of the action taken till I retired.
There was a clear indication of corruption in the incident. However, the officer(s) handling the matter at the government level misguided it, losing the corruption angle in the process.
Administrative set-up
I had one Deputy DLLRO of the WBCS cadre to assist me in the district office and several Revenue officers to look after the day-to-day work. I had some excellent ROs[1] in the district office. There were two LR subdivisions co-terminus with administrative sub-divisions, each under a Sub-divisional Land & Land Reforms Officer (SDLLRO). Each SDLLRO had under him several BLLROs[3] in charge of respective Block Land & Land Reforms Office. There was a total of fourteen block offices headed by the BLLROs, five in Howrah Sadar and nine in Uluberia subdivision. BLLROs had some Revenue officers to assist them.
Field visits, monitoring & coordination
To tighten the LR administration, I started visiting unannounced offices down to the level of Revenue Officers. Initially, I had found these field-level Revenue Officers and some of the BLLROs absent at their places during my visits. After I had made a few such visits, news spread around, and matters improved substantially. I received feedback and also found on later visits that the officers had changed habits and were attending offices as usual. I also started formal inspection of offices with prior programmes. It helped in the proper updating of records, plugging of procedural loopholes, and disposal of cases. It also helped me to understand the functioning of L & L R offices and the grass-root-level activities.
I held meetings with the SDLLROs & the BLLROs every month at the district office. I fixed item-wise monthly targets for every BLLRO and each SDLLRO in these meetings. We monitored the performance against targets of a month in the next monthly meeting and analysed the reasons for the shortfalls, wherever these occurred. Officers concerned had to explain the shortfalls in these meetings. Corrective actions, wherever necessary, were then taken. Matters referred to by the Subdivisional and the Block officers and pending at the district office were duly noted for quick disposal. Officers looking after the those in the district office, had to explain reasons for pendency in the meeting and advise field level officers suitably for rectification of errors or deficiencies, if any. These meetings also served as a two-way avenue for exchange of views and information.
At times, I visited concerned SDOs and BDOs for effective coordination in LR matters. I also went to the camp offices to oversee the field survey for Khatian preparation. I toured extensively to keep abreast of the field situation and to keep officers' alert. LR Officers were always encouraged to bring their problems to me whenever necessary.
Thus, by monitoring the performance and intervening where necessary, I could achieve adequate progress in work. It also helped me to keep the LR officers in Howrah more or less under control. I don’t say that I removed all the deficiencies in the functioning of offices and made them perfect. I can, however, reasonably claim that I could substantially improve the functioning of the LR establishment in Howrah.
Handling political pressure
The DLLRO was also the authority for the conversion of the character of the land. There used to be political pressures in some cases of conversion. I withstood those pressures in my own way and decided the matters following the rules and the field situation. It brings me to a particular instance where I had to deal with a minister. Once, a minister (now deceased), under whom I had previously worked in a different department, had telephoned me to ask for the conversion of a piece of land applied for by someone. I tried to explain to him why I could not allow it. When he continued trying to convince me and failed to see the reasons, I told him to send the petitioner to me. When the petitioner came to me, I told him, given the facts and circumstances, his application for conversion could not be allowed. This decision would not change wherever he might like to go and whomsoever he might approach. I had already rejected the application, and the applicant had approached the minister after the rejection. The matter never came back to me so long as I was in Howrah.
Other work
I had some other administrative work as the Additional District Magistrate. Also, as the DLLRO, I was the appellate authority in some cases involving land. I kept aside time for hearing these cases.
Relation with District Magistrates
I had a perfect working relationship with my District Magistrates. During my stay in Howrah, I also actively participated in the conduct of the Assembly and the Parliamentary Elections and assisted the District Magistrates in some aspects of the conduct of elections. At my time, District Magistrates at Howrah were first Ravi Kant and then Alapan Bandyopadhyay (later, Chief Secretary to the Govt. of West Bengal). They did know about me and my way of functioning and hardly intervened in my work.
IAS induction Training Course
Visiting places of interest
In 1997, when posted at Howrah, I went for an induction training course for IAS officers at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie. The Course was conducted from September 15 to October 17, 1997. I reached Mussoorie on the morning of September 14 and was accommodated in the Institute’s hostel at Indira Bhawan in a double-seated room with colleague Susanta Sen.
Training classes started the next day and continued upto the 25th in the first phase. Besides the faculty members of the Academy, we did have senior bureaucrats of standing from other states and the central government, as also a few selected political leaders among our guest lecturers. Sri Prafulla Mahanta, the then Chief Minister of Assam, came on a visit to the Institute and had a chit-chat with us, the trainee officers.
On the first Saturday after the commencement of the training, the institute arranged a visit for us to nearby Kempty Waterfalls and on the following Sunday to Hardwar & Rishikesh. In Hardwar, we had a ropeway ride to visit Manasa Temple on a hilltop. We offered Puja in the temple. When I was coming back with others carrying the packet of prasada in my hand, a monkey snatched the prasada even before I realized it. We had our lunch at the Tourist Lodge at Hardwar. Post-lunch, we visited Rishikesh and returned to the institute at around 8 PM.
During my training in Mussoorie, I had a ropeway ride to Mussoorie peak. The peak presented an exquisite view of Mussoorie and the surrounding hills. Here are some captioned photographs of the institute, the hostel room where I had stayed, and of the tourist spots of Kempty falls, Hardwar & Rishikesh in the vicinity of Mussoorie in the panel on the right and below.
Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussourie, - Main Campus
Hostel room of Indira Bhawan, LBSNAA where I had stayed with one other colleague during IAS Induction Training Course
A view of Hardwar from the ropeway to Manasa Temple, Hardwar
A view of the Ganga as it flows through the hills at Risikesh
A view of Ramjhola at Risikesh
A view of Kempty falls near Mussourie
A view of Mussourie from the peak
A view of Dehradun-Mussoorie Road with Doon valley at its lower reach.
Bharat Darshan Program Phase I
From the 26th of September, 1997, we had a break for the Bharat Darshan program, which formed an integral part of the training course. The objective of the programme possibly was to acquaint the trainee officers with the history, people, culture, and developmental status of different parts of the country. For convenience, the trainees were divided into groups and allotted regions of the group’s choice. We selected South India. We had, in our group, all three participants from West Bengal and those from Rajasthan, Gujarat, and some other states.
In the first phase of our Bharat Darshan Programme, we started on the morning of the 26th of September and reached Delhi at around 10:30 am. We met the Cabinet Secretary, in the absence of the Prime Minister, according to a pre-arranged programme, and had tea and snacks with him. We stayed for the night in Delhi at the respective State Bhawans before starting for Bharat Darshan.
The following morning, we (I and others of the group) took off for Bangalore at 9 am. We reached Bangalore at around 11 am. After lunch and a rest at the Kumarkrupa Guest House, where we had our accommodation booked, we left for Tirupati-Tirumalai, reached there late in the evening, and halted for the night. We visited the Tirupati Temple the following morning in the early hours. As IAS trainees, we got exclusive entry to the temple of Venkateshwara. Later, we left for Bangalore, reaching late in the afternoon. We enjoyed a good lunch in a wayside restaurant (Dhaba) on way to Bangalore.
This trip was by our arrangement. One of our co-trainees from Tamilnadu, who had someone known in the temple administration of Tirupati, had arranged the visit and the stay.
As we had not planned an overnight stay at Tirupati, I did not carry spare clothes or towels with me. It caused me some inconvenience for my night stay and early morning bath.
We halted at Bangalore on the 28th and the 29th of September. We met the Divisional Commissioner there on the 28th and learnt about the Karnataka administration. We also visited the State Secretariat in the Legislative Assembly Building. In the evening, we attended a Kannada musical program in Bangalore.
On the 29th, we visited the TITAN factory in the industrial town of Hosur, about 40 Km off from Bangalore in the state of Tamilnadu. There, we went around different departments of the factory. We saw the components of watches, gold ornaments, and other products being manufactured and assembled. In the Assemblage Department, we saw only women workers working in a serene atmosphere. The workplace was air-conditioned, and there was pin-drop silence there. The factory campus and workplaces were kept markedly clean and tidy. After the visit, we had lunch in the factory hosted by the Company. In the evening, we visited the Bangalore city office of the Company.
On the 30th, we moved to Mysore and visited the historical places in and around the city and Srirangapattanam.
The following morning, the 1st of October, we left for Bandipore Forest Reserve on the way to Ooty. We reached Bandipore at around 11:30 am and moved into the forest department cottages allotted to us. There, I got stung by bees that flocked to me as I opened a window[4] of our allotted cottage. The window remained closed for years. As I had opened it and disturbed the bees' peaceful habitat, the bees got bewildered and stung me. It had happened as we were settling down on arrival at the forest guest house. Later, we shifted to a different cottage. Each cottage had two beds. My colleague Susanta Sen and I were in one of the cottages.
That afternoon, after lunch and rest, we went on a safari deep inside the Bandipore forest. The safari was arranged by the forest department of Karnataka Govt. by their bus. We saw deer, wild dogs, wild buffaloes, and some stray animals in the wild of Bandipore but no elephants or tigers or Bison. That night we halted at Bandipore in our allotted cottages. As the night fell, deer in herds came over to the open space around the forest cottages. In the darkness, we could see pairs of eyes shining here and there in the vacant spaces within the complex.
Bandipore forest was the hideout of the infamous sandalwood dacoit Veerappan at that time. Veerappan had kidnapped a few officials of the Karnataka Govt. a few days after our visit from here. I read this later in the newspaper.
Anyway, the next day, the 2nd of October, we left for Ooty in the morning. On the way, we had a conducted tour of the Madhumalai forest in Tamilnadu. Bandipur and Madhumalai were annexed reserved forests. Bandipur was in Karnataka, while Madhumalai was in Tamilnadu. We saw herds of deer and elephants, peacocks and other small animals. We also saw the profile of a bison at a distance. The scenic beauty of the Madhumalai forest was more charming than that of Bandipore. We went up to a watchtower inside the forest from where we could enjoy the panoramic view around; there were hills close by with thin streams flowing down them at places.
After visiting Madhumalai, we resumed our journey to Ooty. We reached Ooty at noon. We stayed that night and the following morning at the Govt Guest House. We visited important tourist places in and around Ooty. We had also visited the nearby Coonoor, the second largest town in the Nilgiris after Ooty with nature’s bounty. The guest house in Ooty had two wings. One wing comprised a new modern building, and the other, where we were accommodated, of a grand old building. The rooms in the old building were large with unusually high ceilings; these could cause fear in anyone living alone at night there. We, to our surprise, found the two wings connected by an underground tunnel of yesteryears.
On the 3rd afternoon, we left for Coimbatore by road through the Western Ghats. We enjoyed the exquisite scenic beauty along the route. We reached Coimbatore in the evening and halted for the night in the Circuit House there. We had a good dinner at a local restaurant.
I found the people of Karnataka and Tamilnadu entertaining and hospitable. Places here were well-connected by well-maintained roads in a sad contrast to our state. The vehicles could safely move at 100/120 Km per hour.
The following morning, we flew to Mumbai on the way to Delhi. As our Delhi flight was later in the evening, we had spare time. We roamed in Mumbai for some time after keeping our luggage in the Airport cloakroom. The cloakroom was in a separate building, way off from the airport. It was the only occasion I had used an airport cloakroom to keep the luggage in transit.
We visited the Gateway of India, Nariman point, Kamala Nehru Gardens, and Mahalakshmi Mandir. It was my second visit to Mumbai. The first was years before when I had been working in the Cooperative Spinning Mills of Midnapore and Bankura.
We left for Delhi by the 6:30 pm flight, reached there at 9 pm, and halted in Banga Bhawan.[5] The morning after, we started for Dehradun on the way to Mussoorie by Shatabdi Express. We reached Mussoorie in the evening.
Pictures on the right panel and below will give a glimpse of the places we visited during this phase of Bharat Darshan.
An aerial view of Bangalore city from Delhi-Bangalore flight
A view of Kumarkrupa Guest House where we had stayed in Bangalore during Bharat Darshan Trip
A view of deer park on the left of Tirupati-Tirumali Road
A view of the road from Tirumalai to valley below.
A view inside the Park near Tirumalai Temple
Central Secretariat Building, Bangalore
A view of central section of Mysore Palace
I and three other trainee officers at the entrance of Tipu Sultan's summer resort, Srirangapattanam
Chamundi Temple, Mysore
A view of a river coming down the hills in Madhumalai forest, Tamilnadu
Three wild dogs on forest road inside Bandipur Forest, Karnataka
Herds of wild elephants inside Madhumalai forest in Tamilnadu
A lake near Ooty by Madhumalai-Ooty Road, Tamilnadu
Front view of Govt Guest House in Ooty where we stayed during our Bharat Darshan trip
By Arabian sea at the concluding stage of our South India visit in Bharat Darshan trip
Training resumed
After our return from South India, we had our training classes from Oct 6 to Oct 10.
Bharat Darshan Program Phase II
We then had a short 2nd phase of Bharat Darshan. The group composition was different this time, though we three from West Bengal were in the same group. We left for Chandigarh on the 10th afternoon, after break of class. We were travelling in several cars on a hilly track. After crossing the Uttaranchal border on the way, we visited Paonta Sahib Gurudwara. Paonta Saheb Gurdwara was built in memory ofGuru Gobind Singhji, the tenth guru of Sikhs. The Gurdwara is of historical and religious importance to Sikhs world over. The Gurudwara has a palanquin, "Palki" made of pure gold, donated by devotees.
Chandigarh was quite far. It took us a long to go the distance. We reached Chandigarh at around midnight. This tour was not pre-arranged like the one in the first phase. We had to find our accommodation by ourselves. In great pain, we could find accommodation in a hotel in Chandigarh. We three from West Bengal shared a double bedded room with an extra cot provided. The food served was stale, and we had to forgo food that night.
Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the north, the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east.
The city has one of the highest per capita incomes in the country. It judged one of the cleanest cities in India on a national government study. The union territory also headed the list of Indian states and territories according to Human Development Index. In 2015, a survey by LG Electronics ranked it as the happiest city in India over the happiness index. The metropolitan area of Chandigarh–Mohali–Panchkula is collectively a Tri-city, with a combined population of over 1,611,770.
The city of Chandigarh was, by itself, a beauty to see. It was a well-planned city and divided into a number of sectors with easy inter and intra- sector accessibility. The roads were wide and flanks, neat and clean. There were big island parks at the road junctions ornamented with beautiful flowers and plants. The master plan of the city was prepared by Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier. It had transformed earlier plans created by the Polish architect Maciej Nowicki and the American planner Albert Mayer
We visited the Nek Chand Rock Garden and the Magnus Lake in Chandigarh the following morning and left for Simla after lunch. We reached Simla late at night and managed to get accommodation in the State Administrative Training Institute’s hostel.
The next morning, we visited Kufri, some distance from Simla, where we saw the zoo in its natural surroundings. We could not see the whole of the zoo for want of time. I saw an Eagle and a Wolf in captivity here dfdor the first time in my life.
Later, we visited Mel and some other places in Simla. Simla had the unique distinction of having a tunnel at its entrance. It also had many historical events associated with it. It was here that the Agreement between Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Pakistani President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was signed on July 2, 1972. This agreement was more than a Peace Treaty seeking to reverse the consequences of the 1971 war (i.e., to bring about withdrawals of troops and exchange of PoWs). It was a comprehensive blueprint for good neighbourly relations between India and Pakistan. Simla is also the Summer Resort of the President of India.
In the afternoon of 12th October 1997, we left Simla for Mussourie. We re-joined our co-trainees at Mussoorie on the 12th night to continue our training classes till the end of the course.
Here on the right panel are moments I caught on camera during our 2nd phase of Bharat Darshan.
A complete Photo-show video of the places we visited during Bharat Darshan is available at https://youtu.be/lih6uRI-pFA. The video will start playing by clicking the play button on the thumbnail.
A road island in Chandigarh
A view inside Nekchand Rock Gardens, Chandigarh
A view of Magnus Lake, Chandigarh
On way to Simla by Chandigarh-Simla Road
One has to pass through this tunnel to enter Simla
When the sun sets in the hills: Simla at sunset
A view of a part of Simla from Mel
Initiation into computer
During this induction training course, we were introduced to computers. I got immensely interested in it. I made it a habit to practise on the computer regularly in the computer room attached to our hostel at Indira Bhawan. Initially, I had faced difficulties in handling a computer, being new to it. With my determination and urge to learn, I passed over those difficulties and acquired good working knowledge. Back in my place, I developed this knowledge through my efforts and initiative and became well-versed in computer operation and internet use. I made it (computer) a part of my life and kept on experimenting with it. Today, having developed my knowledge, I can claim to be an advanced user of computer. To achieve this, I installed a computer at home to work at leisure. I also had computers to use at the offices where I worked. My knowledge of the computer has been helping me to a great extent since I retired. My training in Mussoorie offered me the opportunity to learn how to use computers, and because of this, I could later become computer savvy. Apart from this introductory training at Mussoorie, I did not have any other institutional training on the computer.
Training ends: Return to place of work
We had our classes up to the 16th at noon.
Before the training ended, we were given a few books of our choice on administration and related matters to take home from a collection displayed at the Institute. A group photo of participants and faculty members was taken at the end of the course. It is annexed hereunder.
We left Mussourie for our respective States on the 17th of October 1997. We had nicely enjoyed our stay at Mussoorie.
Group Photo of trainees with faculty members
Transfer from Howrah
Transfer from Howrah
After my return from Mussourie Training, I worked in Howrah up to June 14, 1998.
I left Howrah on June 15, 1998, on being appointed the Joint Commissioner (Reservation) & ex-officio Joint Secretary to the Govt. of West Bengal in the Department of Backward Classes Welfare.
To go to the next page on my next and last posting in service Career, click the button on the right.
To view the next page on "Assessment of Self & Contemporary Society" Click the button on the right
EXPLANATORY NOTES
[1] The IAS and the WBCS officers used to have a long duration training for more than 2 months in the settlement procedure and the related field operations. I could not attend the training being posted in an interior area, where I could not be spared for such long time due to shortage of officers.
[2] Revenue Officers.
[3] Block Land & Land Reforms Officers
4 The window apparently were not opened for years. The cottage was the one allotted to two of us from West Bengal cadre.[5] West Bengal Govt’s Guest House in New Delhi.
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