Sunday 28 March 1999 Times of India
Pushpa Iyengar
HYDERABAD: It's the sound
of the future. The telephone rings at 6.30 a.m. in the house of an
engineer with the electricity department in Kurnool. It's the hotline
and the engineer's little son takes the call. The voice at the other end
says: ``This is Chandrababu Naidu speaking. Can you please call your
father?''
The boy does a double take,
but retains his senses enough to call his father, who scrambles for the
telephone while unscrambling his mind for answers to the barrage of
questions he knows will come about the previous day's breakdown at the
sub-station in his charge.
Same time, another day, in
Machilipatnam, the coastal town and headquarters of Krishna district.
This time, the call is for the collector, who is not surprised when the
voice at the other end says: ``This is Chandrababu Naidu speaking.''
Welcome to the hi-tech world
of Mr Naidu where old notions of collectors living the leisurely lives
of nawabs are passe. This scenario has been replayed in the homes of all
the district collectors of the state over the last 45 days since the
teleconferencing facility was installed. The Andhra Pradesh chief
minister can now conference with 28 bureaucrats - including the
collectors. In two months, they will be videoconferencing - and life is
going to get no better for the hapless bureaucrats.
Chuckles a senior government
official: ``Now, collectors can recline in their beds in their pyjamas
with their cup of tea and answer the chief minister. Once
videoconferencing comes, they'll have to be shaved, showered and dressed
by 6.30 am.'' Worse, the bureaucrats will have to be prepared to take
the chief minister's questions, or harangues, on the
computer.
Says a bureaucrat: ``In all
the three years that I was collector in East Godavari, the then chief
minister telephoned only three times. And each time it was only because
of an emergency.''
Now, anytime the telephone
rings, bureaucrats have psyched themselves not to be surprised if the
voice at the other end says: ``This is Chandrababu ...'' Then follows a
review on the power situation, the Rythu Bazaar (which has given farmers
an outlet for their produce, bypassing middlemen), and the
Clean-and-Green programme.
Collectors today rise and
shine early - they read the newspapers by 6.30 a.m. so that they are not
caught on the wrong foot when their chief minister demands information
to counter a negative report that may have appeared in the
media.
But is all this new
technology touching the common man? Says Randeep Sudan, special
secretary to the chief minister: ``Today, he is talking with the
collector; tomorrow it could be the Mandal Revenue Officer; the day
after it might be the Village Administrative Officer.'' Infotech is
breaking down hierarchy. A hierarchy that has 47 different levels, from
the chief secretary at the top to a district collectorate clerk at the
bottom.
The early morning calls may
panic the household, but, according to a collector, the direct
interaction helps him assess what the state's priorities are. It has
also expedited the process of decision-making. ``For instance, if a
transformer is needed, you ask the chief minister directly; he, in turn,
checks with the electricity chief sitting before him whether it can be
provided. So, you get your answer right there.''
Review meetings are more
focussed because Mr Naidu has the latest information on each department
staring at him from his IBM Thinkpad fitted with the CM Information
System. He doesn't have to wait for files crawling up the hierarchy.
``It's a total paradigm shift,'' gushes Mr Sudan, credited with making
the administration - and Mr Naidu - hi-tech savvy.
But is all this making
collectors long for the good old days of work without pressure? Do they
feel someone is cracking the whip all the time? Admits a collector:
``The job has become more professional and I welcome it.'' Adds another:
``Our service never taught us to behave like kings despite popular
notions. And no, we don't resent the new work culture.'' Indeed,
tomorrow is taking roots in today's Andhra Pradesh.
