OCTOBER 08, 2014

By S K Choudhury, Former Member, CBEC

IT is a reenactment of a sort of what happened in early eighties when a functioning CE Collectorate H.Q. was moved out from Calcutta to a place called Bolpur in WB where till today there is not even a range office and the Commissionerate condemned to function more often than not without a full time Commissioner from the days of its inception. This happened because no one in the Board then could tell its political master keen for such a shift that the idea of having a Collectorate HQ at Bolpur with no cluster of industries whatsoever within a radius of about 60 km was conceptually absurd and administratively unworkable idea. Today, Durgapur an industrial belt 60-70 km away from Bolpur having four CE Divisions with some giant public sector units including an integrated Steel Plant and accounting for a substantial portion of Commissionerate's revenue ,ironically does not have a Commissionerate HQ there.

While watching the live-telecast of Arun Jaitley's maiden Budget speech ,I was taken by surprise when he read out an innocuously inserted para in his budget speech that read "It is proposed to set up the National Academy of Customs & Excise at Hindupur in Andhra Pradesh" (para.172). It created a sense of déjà vu. Later, I learnt that like me, many serving senior officers too were equally surprised by this abrupt announcement. It is not known whether the CBEC at least was kept in the loop. What is interesting is that while the Finance Minister chose to include this in his budget speech after maintaining absolute secrecy, there was no mention about provisioning of required fund for "setting up" such a premier training academy in a remote corner of a southern state known for launching iconic Telugu film actor and founder of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) N T Ramarao (NTR) in electoral politics in early eighties. This is in sharp contrast to the announcement for setting up National Center for Himalayan Studies in Uttarakhand and for development of organic farming in NE. For each of these, budgetary provision of 100 cr has been made (para-171 & 173). It would, therefore, appear obvious that the FM did not anticipate any cash out-flow during the current financial year. Then why include such a proposed scheme of an entirely administrative nature as a part of the budget speech and shrouded in secrecy? Who is behind such a move and with what motive? Improving the quality of training of IRS probationers could certainly not have been the objective behind such a decision announced within barely 45 days of the NDA government returning to power. Mystery is yet to unfold.

Incidentally, it also must be pointed out that from the FM's speech on "setting up" an academy in Hindupur, one may get an impression that the department of customs & central excise till now does not have an academy of its own at the national level. But the FM at least couldn't have been unaware that a full fledged NACEN with all its paraphernalia does exist in a sprawling self-contained campus in Faridabad -an industrial hub in Haryana and not far from Delhi. In that case, what could be the intention of the Finance Minister? There are talks that in view of the demand for a more spacious academy with additional infrastructural facilities to cope with the increasing number of probationers joining each year and similar trend likely to continue in future, it is proposed to shift the academy from Faridabad to the proposed location at Hindupur. But if that be so, has the Finance Minister not thought it fit to first get the technical feasibility of expanding the existing facilities at Faridabad examined for meeting the increasing demand for additional space in stead of shifting the entire academy to a new place taking everyone by surprise. From the manner in which one now hears about the hectic high profile visits to Hindupur both from Delhi and Bangalore and elsewhere apparently for evaluating the suitability of the place for setting up an academy there, it will only go to prove that no such exercise was undertaken before making the hasty announcement. This is like putting the cart before the horse. The speed coupled with the total lack of transparency behind the decision taking process involving setting up of a national academy of a premier service at the least suited place has left everyone bewildered and flustered. Has the CBEC taken a position on this important issue?

Hindupur, 100 KM away from Bangalore having the distinction of being one of the driest places in India known for silk, jaggery and of course red chillies is a small town in Andhra Pradesh with inadequate civic amenities. Ask those living in that town about the acute water shortage they face daily! It is because of this perennial problem that the town's future expansion has been severely restricted. It is not uncommon to see people buying water at a high premium supplied by ubiquitous private tankers pumping out water using powerful bore-wells, depleting ground water resources .What is even more alarming is that the ground water is reportedly high in fluoride content which is highly salty rendering it virtually non-potable. What could then be the compelling reasons for the FM and more particularly for the part-time MOS to still insist on setting up a national academy at a place where even basic need for mere survival like potable water is a scarce commodity and what little is available is not fit for drinking, is indeed baffling.

A word of caution! Those responsible for such hasty and thoughtless decision and determined to bulldoze their way through will go down in the history of our department as people having done the greatest harm to the cause of training of our budding probationers and those going for in-service training in pursuit of their narrow ends. Unless reversed, it would be a misery in perpetuity for not only trainees, but equally so for the permanent faculty members and other administrative / supporting staff posted in NACEN. Like Bolpur, the Board will find not many takers for NACEN and those posted without their willingness are either not likely to join or proceed on long leave after forced joining. Any assurance of improving the civic facilities and particularly adequate potable water availability has to be taken with a pinch of salt, given the present state of affairs. Offering a massive stretch of barren land at the throw away price by the local administration can never be an overwhelming factor for choosing this place for a national academy. The cost of land may be relevant for setting up industrial or commercial establishments, not for a training academy at the national level meant for IRS probationers. While I am not an expert with any amount of domain knowledge in urban development, yet I dare say rather bluntly that Hindupur does not have the necessary wherewithal or potential of being transformed into a "smart city"- our Prime Minister's dream project.

Appeal - Mr. Finance Minister! Sir, I earnestly urge you to please revisit your decision with an open mind having regards to long term interest of the service. The service will remember you for ever as one who showed his sagacity and put the larger interest of the service above everything else by recalling a grossly flawed decision even though announced on the floor of one of the Houses of our Parliament.