Bihar babu gets PM award for excellence in public administration

Almost all the congratulatory SMSes invoke ‘Bihari pride’. So when Pratyaya Amrit, Secretary, Bihar’s Road Construction Department, steps up to receive the ‘PM’s excellence award in the field of public administration’ on the occasion of Civil Services Day on Thursday, he will be acutely aware that the moment and the event in Vigyan Bhawan will get seamlessly woven into a larger narrative back home. They will be claimed by the still-unfolding ‘Bihar Turnaround’ story.

No wonder, then, that though he is the only winner in the individual achievement category this year, Pratyaya is quick to say, “It (the award) is a recognition for the work that is happening in Bihar today, and it will send a positive message to many people, especially to those investors who are interested but are still not too sure about the state….” He adds: “It is about the 500 employees of the Bihar Pul Raj Nirman Nigam (BRPNN) coming together and working to make it a success, cutting across caste lines.”
The PM’s award acknowledges the work done in reviving the BRPNN, once a decrepit PSU, now a profit-making corporation poised to extend its footprint outside Bihar to other states. When Pratyaya took over in 2006, the Nigam was not only loss-making, it was also under liquidation. The previous government had decided to wind it up.

The BRPNN’s turnaround is irrefutable: In June 2009, the corporation posted a net profit of Rs 60 crore; and the turnover had climbed from Rs 40 crore to 758 crore. “Today, it has crossed 1,000 crore,” Pratyaya says.
From 1975 to 2005, the BRPNN had made only 319 bridges, but between 2006 and 2010, the number vaulted to 634. The award for the BRPNN turnaround, says Pratyaya, could well mean a push for critical infrastructure projects currently on the Bihar government’s agenda.