May 11, 1998

By Uday Mahurkar

Ajmat Khan lay bleeding profusely on the Ahmedabad-Baroda highway in the dead of night. Seriously injured in a road accident last week, he didn't think he would survive. Then as if from nowhere came help and succour -- in the form of the Gujarat Government's recently launched hospital-on-wheels, the Jeevanraksha Kendra. At this "hospital", equipped with modern gadgets, an operation theatre and a paramedical staff led by a doctor, Khan was given prompt medical attention and rushed to the nearest hospital. It saved his life. The Jeevanraksha Kendra is just one of the many schemes launched by the new Keshubhai Patel Government in Gujarat to have made an impact on the lives of people in the state.

While its counterpart at the Centre is still trying to find a way out of the contradictions of coalition politics, the two-month-old BJP Government in the state is already providing the people governance -- thanks to some well-though-out and focused programmes. The Jeevanraksha kendra -- two of its fully equipped vans are already on the highways and several more are planned in the near future -- alone has saved nearly a dozen lives on the Ahmedabad-Baroda and Ahmedabad-Rajkot highways. The hospital, the first of its kind in the country, is an effort by the Patel Government to provide a government that is responsive to the people.

After a disastrous first innings in 1995, the BJP Government in the state is leaving nothing to chance. It has already begun to take measures to tone-up and restructure the administration and root out corruption in various departments. Soon after romping home to power with a two-thirds majority in March, the Government set up a Parivartan Cell in the chief minister's office to usher in administrative reforms by inviting suggestions from the people.

Says Patel, who moves about on a wheelchair due to a hip-bone fracture: "Our emphasis is on developing a public grievance redressal mechanism with people's participation and to make the administration accountable to the people. We have to get rid of the cynicism that exists about the system in order to win their confidence."

In its latest move in that direction, the Government last week vested in the tehsildar (who is also the executive magistrate in the tehsil) powers to accept complaints in case the police refuses to register them. The step -- taken at the behest of the Parivartan Cell -- is significant because policemen in small villages are often accused of turning down complaints from the poor. Now, if spurned by the police, the poor villager can go straight to the tehsildar.

The Government has installed a voice complaint system in the ministries of civil supplies and home. If a civil supplies official is found to be abetting black-marketing at a fair price shop, a person can just ring up a particular phone number in the two departments in Gandhinagar and register a complaint without revealing his name.

The cash-rich NRIs are also part of the Government's scheme of things. Last week it announced the formation of a full-fledged commissionerate to oversee the affairs of the Gujarati nris. The commissionerate will not only provide guidance to NRIs in matters such as buying property in the state, but also help out in case they get stuck with customs clearance.

Chief Minister Patel also seems keen on keeping up with the times. He has not only floated a separate Department of Information Technology but also made forays into the Internet by opening a personal website last week. Another of his hi-tech schemes is the "Janvishvas Bus" -- the first bus in the country without a conductor. The vehicle, in which the passenger drops money in a box at the entrance and plucks out a ticket from the board beside it, has been introduced to win the people's confidence.

A politician to the core, Patel has also pushed through some populist measures with the administrative ones. His Government has extended the existing schme providing wheat at Rs 2 a kg to the poor to one which envisages distribution of rice at Rs 3 a kg.

But as is always the case, it's difficult to please everybody all the time. The Government has stirred a hornet's nest by considering the withdrawal of the corruption-ridden but popular mid-day meal programme for schoolchildren, introduced by the Madhavsinh Solanki government in the mid-'80s. The scheme, which provided employment to 70,000 people, had been instrumental in wooing to the classroom poor children, who otherwise end up as labourers. Moreover, it was incorporated in the Centre's five-year plan in 1988. Says Solanki: "I wonder what prompted the state Government to think of scrapping it when the Central Government headed by the same party is committed to implementing it." Patel, however, says no decision has been taken on the matter. Having begun his second innings on a positive note, he is unlikely to let such matters bother him. Things seem to be going his way as of now, which can hardly be said of the Government at the Centre.

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