‘State lacks quality urban governance’

He also agreed that the coalition governments at the Centre and in the state had an overall impact on bureaucracy and governance in the state.

Banthia,a 1977-batch Maharashtra-cadre IAS officer,was due to retire on May 31,but the state government gave him a six-month extension,citing the drought crisis among other urgent matters.

Within a month of taking charge on June 1 last year,he was given the task of Mantralaya makeover after a blaze gutted three floors of the building on June 21.

While listing gaps in governance in Maharashtra,Banthia said there was a general lack of coordination among agencies in urban areas and the tendency to pass the buck. In Mumbai,the multiplicity of agencies is the biggest challenge,he said.

“What differentiates Maharashtra from other states is the issue of urbanisation and urban governance. While the state has got some excellent political executives for sectors such as agriculture and cooperatives,we do not have expertise for urban governance. The ball has invariably been in the chief minister’s court. That is a very telling thing. Despite the importance of urban governance in the state,we do not have representatives from urban local bodies who can help in governance,” said Banthia.

He said the idea of having urban local bodies was to have political leadership from the ground level that can understand problems of the region. “Urban complexities here have global connotations. Representatives of urban local bodies,mayors and corporators have to be exposed internationally,” he said.

Pointing out to the inability of state agencies at implementing mega projects,Banthia said the bureaucracy needed to improve here. “We have a number of agencies such as CIDCO,MMRDA and MSRDC that have expertise to deal with projects ranging between Rs 500-1000 crore. But to effectively manage mega projects that cost up to Rs 20,000 crore,we really need to build our capacity in terms of implementation and financial controls,” he said.

The top official also spoke about the need for economic advisors,financial controllers and human resources development professionals in all state ministries,on the lines of the government of India. He also spoke about the lack of data systems. “We do not have enough capacity and expertise for data collection,storage and analysis. Statistical wings need to be strengthened. We have given every secretary and department the authority to recruit economic/financial advisors,HRD professionals,IT professionals and legal advisors,” he said.

Banthia highlighted the need to develop an index to map the ease with which public interacts with the government. “The fact that general public has to keep coming to the Mantralaya building reflects that something is seriously wrong in the system,” he said.

He also rued about the lack of enough water conservation measures,citing the example of Israel which hardly receives rainfall but does not face scarcity owing to conservation measures. He partially blamed the delay in completion of irrigation projects. “In a sugarcane producing state,water conservation is very critical. We can no longer assume that water will be freely available,” he said.

Banthia stressed the need for decentralisation of transfer powers. “Earlier,transfer orders were issued by divisional commissioners,but now they have to come to the political executive for approval. This is not desirable. If it was an administrative decision,we would have taken steps at our end. But it is a law that needs to be amended through the legislature and passed through the Cabinet first. However,there is no need to change the existing set-up wherein the General Administration Department lies with the Chief Minister,who is the highest political executive,” he said.