Deccan Chronicle 14.09.2009

‘We are committed to good governance’

For all the lack of looks and decor at his office, the law and urban development minister Suresh Kumar and his staff have done extremely well to accommodate a large number of people coming in. Mr Suresh Kumar hit the limelight when a letter of his, countering the views of governor, H.R. Bhardwaj, forced the latter to announce a ceasefire with the government. This has made him go up in the esteem of his colleagues. As if a bonus, his department has won four major national awards, a significant achievement in the days of mere platitudes from the platforms.

Excerpts from the interview with M.N. Chakravarthy

Your letter to the Governor has caused a flutter. Was it approved by senior leaders of the party?
Absolutely not. When I saw the Governor’s statement, I was astonished. As a government representative, I decided to issue a clarification. It was my personal decision. But, after Mr Bhardwaj spoke to our home minister and clarified that he was quoted out of context, the issue was closed.

Though the Governor closed the subject, it seems the opposition Congress wanted to pursue the issue?
They are desperate. They want to politicise everything. They have not learnt a lesson from 2008 May, bypolls in Decemer 2008 and August 2009.

Even before the dust settles on the controversy, a church attack has happened. Will it not be a blot on the government?
No. We want to show that we are committed to good governance. The CID probe has been ordered and we will not spare anyone involved in such incidents. Such elements are there in every state. Recently communal skirmishes happened in Maharashtra. Why are people silent about Congress-ruled states?

Can we discuss about your department. It is important because, it got National Urban Water awards in as many as four categories. Can you explain.
It is a team effort. You have to congratulate my officers. But for their concerted effort, this would not have happened. They deserve all your praise as they got as many as four awards out of the six. As many as 90 organisations from all over the country were in the fray for the contest.

Can you elaborate?
24 x 7, a project to provide surface water instead of groundwater was what the judges found most appealing. Other states are now adopting this method of implementation.
We sent officers all over the state to convince people that groundwater, for which we had to dig more than 800 ft, was polluted with fluoride and nitrates.

I hear that even World Bank officials were impressed?
World Bank officials appreciated my department’s preparation and planning. They also felt other states could learn from my department.

Mr. Sridharan, of the Delhi Metro, had installed a special calendar which indicated, the number of days left for completion of the project.?
I didn’t have such a calendar.

How did you manage?
We held regular review meetings to remind officials about the deadline for the completion of the project. Convincing them about the need to switch over to surface water.
resulted in some legislators coming to me to utilise their Area development Funds for the project. This is very heartening.