BANGALORE, MAY 31: It may sound incredible: The much-touted Infrastructure Development department of the state government itself is without adequate infrastructure.Created three years ago by the then J H Patel's Janata Dal Government to encourage private investment in varioius infrstructure projects, the department has already seen seven secretaries so far. This itself establishes the Government's seriousness about the department.Now headed by Principal Secretary B K Das, the department was started with Usha Ganesh as its first secretary followed by Dilip Rau, Ramesh Kumar, K L Negi, H Nagaraj Setty and Swathantra Rao, all senior secretaries to the Government. Such short stints of bureaucrats in this departments perhaps confirms the gap between intention and action of the Government.Initially started from a small room in the Visveswaraya Towers, the department has recently been given a permanent location in the basement of the semi-finished block of Multi-storeyed building. With sand and brick still surrounding the building, a visitor is greeted by the construction workers and their family members before he reaches the department. Since the department is in the basement, there is very little ventilation.Coming to the logistics, the department has a strength of only 25 staff members including one deputy secretary and one under secretary drawn from the secretariat service with no or very little knowledge or experience in project development and handling. The department does not have any technical staff who can manage the projects, leave alone preparing project reports for putting up before the investors. In short, it is a total mismatch between the aims and objectives of the department and those who who are supposed to accomplish it.With Global Investors Meet (GIM) round the corner, the department has become the beehive of activity. Every day the department is thronged with scores of investors from India and abroad. But the very look of the department puts them off and instead of discussing the multi-crore projects they come armed with, they ask questions about the seriousness of the government.One more disadvantage of being in the basement is that the cell-phones go out of range, adding to their doubts. The building which is still under construction, is a typical PWD construction, truly conforming to the typical Government tender guidelines.It is customary in the Government that whenever a new department is formed, it is supplied with the old surplus or discarded furniture. Believe it or not, the Principal Secretary's room presents a real antique look with old wooden chairs and a table. Even the telephone instruments are as old a the telephone department itself.All that the department needs today is two to three good deputy secretaries who have good understanding of projects and finances.When contacted, Principal Secretary B K Das admitted that the department was new, and therefore lacked infrastructure. To overcome these problems, the government was contemplating to float an Infrastructure Development Corporation in association with Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation promoted by the Gopvernment of India and World Bank. It will be an autonomous body with the Principal Secretary of Infrastructure department as its chairman. The corporation will mainly take care of the funding aspect of infrastruicture projects.
