Feat of enthusiasts

I fondly recall the bright, sunny afternoon of March 7, 2017. The picturesque Diu airport greeted me as I landed there to take charge of my new assignment in the Union Territories of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

Diu is a small, serene island of breeze and beauty situated at the tip of the Saurashtra peninsula. The area around the airport was buzzing with activities as the Prime Minister was to address a public meeting the very next day.

As the Prime Minister walked back to his aircraft after a powerful speech the subsequent morning, we had lined up on the tarmac to see him off. It's here he told me these loud and clear words: "Make Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli model UTs and ensure that benefits of government schemes reach every eligible person".

The words added fuel to the fire burning inside me to give my best to the people of the two UTs. His words kept echoing in my mind all through my flight to Daman.

Daman is the city of twin forts nestled at the mouth of Daman-Ganga River as it embraces the Arabian sea. Forts, beaches, churches and proximity to Mumbai and Surat make Daman a huge draw for tourists.

I was assigned the post of Advisor to the Administrator, a post akin to the Chief Secretary in Union Territories without legislature. I had realized quickly that a lot needed to be done in the two UTs — both on the social and infrastructural front at the soonest.

However, the seeds of transformation had already been sown by the Administrator Praful Patel who had taken over the reins of the two UTs only a few months back. A civil engineer with vast experience, he had a clear vision and a great aesthetic sense. I happily noted that numerous infrastructure projects were in the planning and design stage. There was a wonderful team of young and enthusiastic officers, committed to making a difference.

We worked hard day and night. Meetings and presentations on developmental works often spilled over to late evenings. Weekends were the preferred days of the Administrator for field inspections. With a dynamic leadership at the helm, adequate resources from the Government of India, and collective efforts of the team, the vision started reflecting on the ground.

One of the first sectors that drew our attention was tourism. It was the backbone of the economy of Daman and Diu. Plans to beautify beaches — the "black-beauties" of Daman and "golden marvels" of Diu — were swiftly moved from drawing boards to execution. We burnt the midnight oil on seafront development. Widening and beautification of roads and construction of flyovers were planned to boost connectivity, both for the tourists and locals.

Asides from water at the shore, drinking water and wastewater management was a focus area too. The provision of clean water is the lifeline of any human settlement and saves the highest number of human lives annually. Unfortunately, both the UTs were lagging behind most of their contemporaries in this arena.

Besides pulling numerous projects to the execution stage in a short span of a month, our team had identified thousands of beneficiaries eligible under the government's welfare schemes.

We were delighted to learn that Prime Minister will visit Dadra and Nagar Haveli on April 18, 2017.

During his visit, the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for various projects and distributed benefits under the various welfare schemes. He also handed over Forest Right certificates to the tribal people and employment letters to the youth. I can't forget the smiles on the faces of women who got free LPG connections, gas stoves and pressure cookers as part of 'Ujjawala' scheme.

PM's visit further energized the entire team. Education was a key area vying for attention. Educational infrastructure was bolstered through school buildings and education hubs. To improve the quality of education, the administration took numerous initiatives like Mission Vidya, Project Kayakalp, Shala-Preveshotsav, Gunotsav, Tithi-Bhojan, e-Gyan Mitra. Project Anushikshan was launched to provide free coaching to students for NEET and JEE exams through a reputed coaching institute of Kota, Rajasthan.

The Prime Minister's next stop was Daman on February 24, 2018. We were ready to launch projects worth Rs 1,000 crore, including an engineering college and a nursing college.

Air connectivity was vital for the promotion of tourism and was an unforgettable dream of the local people. Sincere efforts made towards this direction had fructified. The Prime Minister inaugurated a helicopter service between Daman and Diu, and flight services between Ahmedabad and Diu.

It was a treat for the heart to hear the Prime Minister saying, "This public meeting in Daman is in terms of the development projects being launched. I also congratulate the people and the administration for making cleanliness a mass movement and making the place open defecation free".

He also launched many welfare schemes, including 'Swabhiman' scheme to provide free monthly nutritious ration to women and adolescent girls; 'SPARSH' scheme for smart, affordable housing for the industrial workers; and 'Badhai-kits' for newly born girl children under 'Beti-Bachao, Beti-Padhho' initiative. The Home Minister's visit a few months later pushed our development endeavours further.

Another key pillar of development is the promotion and protection of health. A 360-degree approach was adopted to strengthen primary, secondary and tertiary care. Schemes like Mission Malnutrition-Free UTs, Anaemia Mukt Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Swasthya-Setu and scheme for promotion of menstrual hygiene were taken up to improve the health and nutrition indicators.

A medical college was the long-cherished dream of the people of the two UTs. Persistent efforts of Administrator Praful Patel in this direction paid off when a 150-seat medical college was approved by the Government of India in Silvassa in November 2018.

Dadra & Nagar Haveli saw the second visit of the Prime Minister on January 19, 2019. There were tears in the eyes of people when he laid the foundation stone of the medical college building. "Now instead of just 15 seats in far-off medical colleges, our children will get 150 seats every year in our own place," many of them had said then.

The Prime Minister also unveiled plaques of projects worth Rs 1,400 crore in education, health, transport, water & sewage and other sectors. Besides releasing the new IT policy, and dedicating M-Aarogya mobile app to facilitate delivery of health services, he launched the campaign for door-to-door collection, segregation, processing and management of solid waste. The blue revolution also got a big thrust with the commencement of seaweed cultivation.

It was a delight to hear from the PM "the UTs of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli have scaled new heights in the past few years. Every household has an LPG connection, electricity connection, and water connection. Both are open defecation-free and kerosene-free".

I left Daman after an extremely satisfying tenure of two and a half years. During this period, the two UTs got more than 40 awards and honours from the Government of India. As the two UTs, which have since been merged into one on January 26, 2020, celebrate 60 years of their liberation this year, I feel happy to have made a definitive contribution to their development.

The writer is a senior bureaucrat. Views expressed are personal