Krishna Babu Feels hurt

Former GHMC Commissioner M T Krishna Babu has said that though he was prepared for a transfer he did not expect that he would know about it through TV scrolling. In his tenure of two years and four months, he brought about a sea change in GHMC, increasing its revenues to 2,500 cr.

Krishna Babu came with a mission to make the city green. The idea of issuing birth and death certificates at doorstep wasconceptualised during his tenure.

Transfers of IAS officers aren’t that interesting, but the way they are conducted of late is interesting. On Tuesday evening, the GHMC saw three IAS officers being transferred. The state government transferred M T Krishna Babu and Somesh Kumar replaced him as the new Commissioner of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC). Besides, Somesh Kumar, who is the new GHMC boss, P Venkata Rami Reddy and Jyoti Buddha Prakash are posted as Additional and Special Commissioner for GHMC respectively.

To add insult to injury he has not been given another posting. Was there a need to transfer Krishna Babu; and, that too, when there is crisis in the GHMC? Several NGOs believe that he has brought in significant changes in the functioning of the civic body due to which the city is a lot greener and livelier. A reluctant Krishna Babu says: “The contract and outsourced staff in the sanitation wing were on strike and we were negotiating till 6 pm and the news of my transfer comes through TV channels. I have completed 2 years 4 months and transfer was inevitable, but it was a very arbitrary transfer.

The Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) could have hinted at the transfer or discussed it. I never asked for any posting and respect the Chief Minister, but this is becoming an unhealthy practice and most IAS officers do not open up out of fear of being sidelined. I respect the CMO and its decisions. When I was with the Central Power Distribution Company Limited (CPDCL), Anantapur, I was always interested in the power sector, but on the word of the Chief Minister I joined the GHMC.” Another IAS officer also spoke on similar lines, saying, “When the State is in the midst of agitation, was there a need for overnight transfers”? Senior IAS officers at CMO also are getting used to such brazen transfers.

“GHMC office sports a gloomy look, though there is a new Commissioner joining,” says a Class IV employee. Krishna Babu as Commissioner took up welfare measures for employees. Krishna Babu came with a mission to make the city green. After he took over, there have been marked changes in the functioning of the GHMC.

The idea of issuing birth and death certificates at doorstep was conceptualised during his tenure. Before Krishna Babu assumed office two years back, the GHMC was in Rs 490-cr overdraft, but now it has deposits to bank on. The revenues have increased from Rs 1,500cr to Rs 2,500cr. Property tax collections have doubled from Rs 450 crore to Rs 960crore. He was instrumental behind the Rs 813-cr City Development Plan. He played a key role in making COP-11 a huge success. He secured 2,670 additional posts to address staff crunch. Politicians and the bureaucrats are two sides of the same administrative coin — representing the political and permanent executive.

The public servant now has to become a ‘private servant’ if he has to survive, not to speak of thriving in the system. Those among the civil servants who read the signs well and were willing to adjust their attitudes and behaviour find it extremely satisfactory, rewarding and lucrative; while others, more able and conscientious, are condemned to sit it out in a corner.

The concept of “the right man for the right job” has been turned on its head. It is essential to understand this relationship between the politician and the bureaucracy to get to the root of the decline in governance standards. This is the structure of the ‘transfer industry’. Inconvenient officials have to be transferred out at short notice, in the ‘public interest’ — read, in the ‘interests of the ministers and his special officers” Double standards have always been the norm in this country. At the macro level, most of the time they are borne out of political expediency. But for honest bureaucrats it is demoralizing because upright officers soon come to know that they are just pawns in the hands of greedy politicians.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Before M T Krishna Babu assumed office two years ago, GHMC was in Rs 490-cr overdraft, but now it has deposits to bank on

• The revenues have increased from Rs 1,500 cr to Rs 2,500cr

• Property tax collections have doubled from Rs 450 cr to Rs960 cr

• Instrumental behind Rs 813-cr City Development Plan

• Played a key role in making COP-11 a huge success

• Secured 2,670 additional posts to address staff crunch